A Produção de Sentido Das Religiões De Matriz Africana Na Mídia Televisiva: Identidade e Representação como dilemas no Direito De Resposta Na Rede Record

Abstract

This dissertation analyzes the production of meaning of identities and representations of Afro-Brazilian religions in television media, taking as subject four programs produced as a right of reply and aired by Rede Record of Television. The production of these programs resulted from a legal action motivated by the recurring presentation of religions in a distorted, prejudiced, and stereotypical manner. After years of legal proceedings, representatives of these religious traditions secured the right to produce programs intended to present alternative perspectives on their histories, practices, symbols, and forms of belonging. The research aims to understand how these programs enabled the representatives of African-based religions themselves to construct narratives about their experiences, explain their practices, and challenge the meanings produced by television. The analysis focuses on the content of the episodes and the statements made by priests, practitioners, researchers, and other participants. The theoretical basis is anchored in Cultural Studies, particularly in the contributions of Stuart Hall and Raymond Williams, in dialogue with Jesús Martín-Barbero’s reflections on communication, culture, and mediations. The concepts of culture, identity, and representation are predominantly used. The results demonstrate that the programs constituted a space for the confrontation and negotiation of meanings, in which the subjects represented became protagonists in the construction of their own images. The right of reply is divided into four twenty-minute programs. Each of the programs treats a topic related to religiosity; they are titled: Justice, Brazil, Culture, and Behavior. The exhibition of these programs represented a historic achievement and an important precedent in the fight for recognition and representation on Brazilian television. However, the reduced number of episodes, their short duration, and their midnight broadcast times significantly limited their visibility, public reach, and potential for repair.