Dr. Patricia Mulvey's
to be Included in Scholarly Journal

(BLUEFIELD)--An article examining lay religious brotherhoods in Colonial Brazil, written by Dr. Patricia A. Mulvey (Professor of History at Bluefield State College), has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Plantation Studies. The article, "Festas and Funerals: Funerary Politics and the Afro-Christian Brotherhoods of Colonial Brazil," follows several years of focused research by Dr. Mulvey. Her material included research conducted in Brazil and Portugal during her doctoral dissertation. Her previous publications include "Black Brothers and Sisters: Membership in the Black Lay Brotherhoods of Colonial Brazil," Luso-Brazilian Review (1980), and "Slave Confraternities in Brazil: Their Role in Colonial Society," The Americas (1982).

"The Catholic Church in colonial Brazil did not entirely abandon African slaves to their plight as laborers, but created lay religious brotherhoods to aid in their religious conversation and for the provision of mutual aid," Mulvey wrote. These "lay confraternities" were a part of the Medieval Catholic Mediterranean world of guilds, she explained.

While disputes arose between these confraternities and the civil and church authorities over control of their churches, the lay religious brotherhoods "displayed an independent spirit and showed they were not tools of the white elite," the BSC history professor noted. "Particularly in their struggles with the priest over control of churches and burial fees, the black confraternities were expressing democratic aspirations and trying to make the Catholic Church more responsive to the needs of the laity."

These brotherhoods provided a foundation upon which "Afro-Brazilians displayed a desire for liberty, a spirit of independence, and feelings of pride and solidarity," Dr. Mulvey concluded.

May 8, 2003