Written by Paula Góes With their herbs, gestures, prayers and comforting words, the “doctors of the people” are an important element of Brazilian popular culture and religious syncretism. Folk healers are found throughout the country, but play a special role in remote areas, where medical professionals are scarce and allopathic medicine is inaccessible. In a […]
Angola: “Every city has its history, and ours is no different”
Since January this year several blogs have been announcing a petition in defence of what remains of Luanda’s [en] historical architecture. Sponsored by the Architects Association of Angola, and mainly addressed to the President of the country, José Eduardo dos Santos [en], it aims to protect Luanda’s heritage and monuments. In defence of the idea […]
Mozambique: House of the Flying Azagaias
In the past couple of weeks, the Mozambican blogosphere played host to debate on the role of hip-hop and the nature of legitimate “social critique”. This debate actually started two years ago [pt], except that in past weeks it has reached a new fervor. One group of influential voices in the Mozambican blogosphere until recently […]
New Oil in Brazil Unleashes a Gusher of Media Controversies
Twisted information about the discovery of what may possibly be the third largest oil field in the world turned into a hot issue on the Brazilian blogosphere this week. The trigger was a comment from the head of Brazil’s National Petroleum Agency [ANP], Haroldo Lima, mentioning that the recently found Carioca [or Sugar Loaf] field in […]
Brazil: Bloggers United Against WordPress Ban
by Paula Góes The Brazilian blogosphere has not quite yet recovered from its last fright and there is already another threat on the way: a blanket ban on blogs hosted on WordPress.com after a judicial court passed an order to close down a specific blog. Gabriela Zabo [pt] explains why: O motivo é uma decisão judicial expedida em março, que […]