The World of Astrology | Free Book
An Ethnography of Astrology in Contemporary Brazil
Sleeve Notes from Brazilian EditionWe see in the present century,
after its relative decline in European societies in the seventeenth
century, a return of astrology in modern urban centres, where the
number of astrological consultants increases and the newspapers
publish 'horoscopes' with predictions for the natives of each Sun
sign. Astrology, the ancient divinatory system which has been
experiencing growing popularity in large Brazilian cities in recent
years, has rarely received attention in the social sciences.This book
analyses the beliefs and cultural constructions of their world in a
group of individuals belonging to the middle classes in Rio and
involved in the use of astrology. By means of research and interviews,
the author, approaching the urban middle classes, takes the following
question as his hypothesis: to what extent can we say that astrology
contributes to the construction of [a] particular lifestyle?The author
begins his analysis from the main principles of the symbolic system of
astrology and its divinatory practice, attempting to show that, in the
same way as the structure of myth investigated by Lévi-Strauss, the
structure of this system remains constant across its various versions.
Despite this stability throughout its history, it is capable of
receiving several different social appropriations. In the case of
interest here, it is the appropriation made of it among sectors of the
urban middle class in Rio de Janeiro, for whom psychotherapy is
already an influence, and whose views are analysed in detail in the
last chapter. Relating itself to varying degrees with psychoanalysis
and religion, astrology shows itself to be a symbolic language capable
of engaging the fragmentation of modern daily life. Thus it becomes
clear that this little-known phenomenon of contemporary culture cannot
be reduced to a mere irrational survival. This book is an original
contribution to the study of the middle classes in Brazil, and of
astrology as an "alternative culture", an area little studied by the
social sciences. In addition to discussing the classics and more
recent anthropological works on the subject, the author examines the
ambiguous relation which modernity has with astrology: 'arising in its
very heart, it presents a discourse marked by criticism of the values
of modernity'.Complementing this volume, the reader will find a
glossary explaining astrological terms in Appendix 2.About the
AuthorLuis Rodolfo da Paixão Vilhena took his Master's degree in
Social Anthropology in the Postgraduate Programme in Social
Anthropology of the National Museum (Federal University of Rio de
Janeiro, UFRJ). He was a researcher at the National Institute of
Folklore (FUNARTE), 1988-1989, where he studied the history of
Folklore Studies in Brazil and was a lecturer at UERJ and of the
Faculty Veiga de Almeida. He died in 1997.
- Title: The World of Astrology | Free Book
- Author: Steven
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