Editing Macumba (section)

==Definitions==

There are conflicting views as to what the term ''Macumba'' describes.{{sfn|Hayes|2007|p=286}} The term is sometimes used as a colloquial term for all Afro-Brazilian religions.{{sfnm|1a1=Wafer|1y=1991|1p=13|2a1=Capone|2y=2010|2p=72}} The scholar Stefania Capone noted that, when applied to Afro-Brazilian religions, ''Macumba'' can "indicate anything to do with spirits".{{sfn|Capone|2010|p=283}}
In this, ''macumba'' is used in much the same way as the term ''calundu'', which had been used in the 18th century to describe Afro-Brazilian traditions.{{sfn|Capone|2010|pp=71-72}}  

In this sense, the term ''macumbeiros'' has sometimes been used for practitioners of [[Candomblé]] and [[Umbanda]], two Afro-Brazilian religions that emerged in the 19th and early 20th centuries respectively.{{sfn|Capone|2010|p=155}} Writing in the 1990s, the anthropologist Robert A. Voeks noted that those who took an extremely negative view of Candomblé still viewed it as being "impregnated with devil worship and macumba."{{sfn|Voeks|1997|p=69}} The term ''macumba'' has also been historically used for Umbanda,{{sfn|Brown|1986|p=6}} and some Umbandists have referred to themselves as ''macumbeiros'', often in jest due to the negative connotations of this term.{{sfn|Hale|2009|p=42}} At the same time, there are those taking a positive view of Candomblé and Umbanda who seek to distinguish these traditions from what they call ''macumba''.{{sfn|Hayes|2007|pp=285-286}}

===Stricter sense===
Other definitions suggest a more restrictive use of the term. The scholar Kelly Hayes noted that while ''Macumba'' was "a term used to denominate Afro-Brazilian religious cults, practices, and ritual objects" as a whole, it was used "most especially" for "those thought to involve ''feitiçaria'', sorcery or black magic."{{sfn|Hayes|2007|p=284}} The scholar Steven Engler noted that ''Macumba'' "refers not to a specific religion but to a range of popular Afro-Brazilian rituals (often labeled 'black magic') that aim at healing and worldly benefits."{{sfn|Engler|2020|p=14}}

In particular the term has been used for those practitioners who cultivate relations with spirits referred to as ''exus'';{{sfnm|1a1=Wafer|1y=1991|1p=13|2a1=Hayes|2y=2007|2p=284}} in Brazil, these are sometimes also called "devils,"{{sfn|Wafer|1991|p=13}} while devotees call them ''povo da rua'', people of the streets."{{sfn|Hayes|2007|p=284}} In this sense, ''macumba'' is most associated with the area around [[Rio de Janeiro]].{{sfnm|1a1=Wafer|1y=1991|1p=13|2a1=Hayes|2y=2007|2p=285}} Much of the specialist literature on the topic has identified that city as the home of Macumba,{{sfn|Capone|2010|p=96}} with some practitioners of Afro-Brazilian traditions in Rio referring to their practices as Macumba.{{sfn|Engler|2020|p=14}}

Hayes argued that the term effectively operated as a "boundary marker within larger classificatory projects", one commonly used "to determine legitimate forms of religious expression, establishing the boundaries of
religious authenticity, propriety, and morality."{{sfn|Hayes|2007|p=287}} They noted that much literature sought to portray Candomblé as a legitimate religion of pure African derivation while simultaneously denigrating Macumba as "especially syncretistic, impure, or degraded".{{sfn|Hayes|2007|p=285}} This division is evident in the work of the sociologist [[Roger Bastide]], who presented the Nago tradition of Candomblé, of which he was an initiate, as a legitimate religion, while dismissing the Bantu tradition of Candomblé as a form of ''Macumba'' that could only be labelled [[magic (supernatural)|magic]].{{sfn|Capone|2010|pp=193, 195, 207}}