Brazilian Spiritists in Germany: integrating or staying among themselves?

While religious communities are often thought to be resources for the integration of migrants, the opposite can also be true, as Helmar Kurz (University of Muenster, Germany) writes in an article in the International Journal of Latin American Religions (June) based on his research on the role of Brazilian Spiritist centers in Germany for migrants. Spiritist centers in Germany function as spaces of care for Brazilian migrants, such as young women in love with German partners but suffering because of cultural differences. The centers, which have been established by Brazilian immigrants in Germany since the 1990s, provide spiritual, social, and emotional support, but according to Kurz some Brazilians prefer to keep them “as a resource for not having to integrate and instead staying among themselves.” At the annual meeting of the umbrella organization for these Spiritist centers, Kurz observed how the place of the German language at local centers was a contested issue, with some arguing “that Spiritist centers should be a refuge for Brazilian immigrants and the maintenance of their cultural identity, whereas others saw them as a space of integration, exchange, and the elaboration of the Spiritist doctrine in Germany,” emphasizing the universal value of the Spiritist way of life, preserved in Brazil and ready to spread again around the world.

Source: Casa de Jesus (https://www.casadejesus.online/post/does-spiritism-have-rituals-or-priests).

In one local center studied by Kurz, about 20 percent of the participants were of German descent, while the rest were Brazilian. However, some of the Brazilian members who had lived in Germany for a long time participated in the center’s German language study group and were frustrated that the center remained primarily a refuge for Brazilians—thus showing that there was a fault line among the members of Brazilian descent themselves. Cultural differences and prejudices manifested themselves on both sides. The group split over these issues in 2017. About a third of the group, made up of Germans and Brazilians who had lived in Germany for many years, advocated a “de-Brazilianization” of Spiritism in order to promote a less religious, “scientific-philosophical” attitude. Kurz’s case study illustrates problems common to many religious groups that spread to new areas as a result of migratory flows.

(International Journal of Latin American Religions, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41603-024-00233-0)