African study fits well in diaspora discourses and vice versa, in that Africa has a long history of population movement. Speaking of the African diaspora, Brazil takes the first place in the world in terms of the total number of African descendants thereof. In this regard, this study pursues Afro-Brazilian with its special focus on their religious culture. It is firstly because, diaspora issue concerns itself much with religious issues from its origin. And Africans cannot be separated from their religious cosmology both in and out of Africa. Moreover, Afro-Brazilian diaspora counterattacked their traumatic experiences religiously rather than physically.
Unlike other victimized or passive diasporas in settlement, Afro-Brazilian has actively embraced diverse regional cultures through the numerous diasporic routs. This is why this study argues that erstwhile diaspora discourses should be revised or supplemented to portray active and all-encompassing characteristics of diaspora based on Afro-Brazilian.
In the Africanization of Brazilian society, African religion has taken a decisive role ever since the Atlantic slave trade. The most appropriate example here is Iemanjá (or said Dona Janáina). Iemanjá is assumed to have its origin in Africa but currently the whole Brazilian worships her and enjoys the Day of Iemanjá i.e., 02 February. Hence, this study pursues Iemanjá, the creolized Afro-Brazilian religious symbol to reveal how Bantu has Africanized the whole Brazil.
Spatial selections are Angola (representative of Bantu in this study), wherefrom large portion of Afro-Brazilian is consisted, and Brazil, especially ‘Black Rome’ i.e., Salvador. Temporal selection is from Middle Passage to contemporary era. The whole study holds anthropological perspective.
Keywords: Diaspora, Religion, Angola, Brazil, Afro-Brazilian, Iemanjá