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This article discusses the growth of Pentecostal churches in favelas of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The author pleads for a systemic inclusion of religious ideas and practices in theoretical reflections on citizenship in the urban contexts of Brazil. Concretely, scholars need to include the explosive rise of Pentecostalism in their reflections on insurgent citizenship this religious movement fuels rights discourses and supports feelings of pride and dignity in the face of structural spatial exclusion. The author highlights two important relations between favela building practices and Pentecostalism. One concerns the affinity between the bottom-up organizational and doctrinal structure of the biggest Pentecostal denomination in Brazil (the Assemblies of God) and the informal building practices of favela residents. The other concerns the elective affinity between autoconstruction in terms of Pentecostal projects of self-fashioning and self-governance and autoconstruction in terms of favela building practices.

This article discusses the rise of evangelical carnival parades in Rio de Janeiro in relation to spectacular carnival parades that feature Afro-Brazilian religious elements. The article exposes divergent intersections of religion and cultural heritage in Brazilian carnival. The first intersection aims to affirm the intrinsic connection between samba enredo carnival music and Afro-Brazilian religion by means of cultural heritage narratives, and the second type employs similar narratives to undo this connection, attempting to make samba enredo accessible to evangel-ical religious performance. The article demonstrates the important role secularism plays in upholding distinctions between " culture " and " religion, " and shows how evangelical carnival groups engage with such historical forma-tions by means of estra egia (strategy)—evangelical performances in cultural styles that are commonly perceived as " worldly. " This estra egia depends on and proposes a particular set of semiotic ideologies that allows for the separation of cultural form and spiritual content. Efforts to open up " national " cultural styles to different religious groups in light of multicultural politics are laudable, but advocates of such politics should keep in mind that cultural heritage regimes concerning samba push in the opposite direction and support a different set of semiotic ideologies. [religion, carnival, secularism, cultural heritage, Brazil] RESUMEN Este articulo discute el aumento de los desfiles carnavalescos evan elicos en Rio de Janeiro comparado con los desfiles carnavalescos espectaculares que exhiben elementos religiosos afro-brasil nos. El articulo expone intersecciones divergentes de religi on y patrimonio cultural en el carnaval brasil no. La primera intersecci on tiene el pro osito de afirmar la conexi on intrinseca entre la usica de carnaval samba enredo y la religi on afro-brasil na por medio de narrativas de patrimonio cultural, y el segundo tipo emplea narrativas similares para deshacer esta conexi on, intentando hacer la samba enredo accesible a las presentaciones religiosas evan elicas. El articulo de-muestra el importante papel que el secularismo juega en mantener las distinciones entre " cultura " y " religi on " y muestra omo los grupos carnavalescos evan elicos involucran tales formaciones his oricas por medio de una estra egia (estrategia)—presentaciones evan elicas en estilos culturales que son co unmente percibidos como " mundanos " . Esta estra egia depende de, y propone un juego particular de ideologias semi oticas que permite la separaci on de la forma cultural y el contenido espiritual. Los esfuerzos para abrir los estilos culturales " nacionales " a diferentes grupos religiosos a la luz de la politica multicultural son laudables, pero defensores de tal politica deberian tener presente que los regimenes de patrimonio cultural concernientes a la samba empujan en la direcci on opuesta y apoyan un diferente juego de ideologias semi oticas. [religi on, carnaval, secularismo, patrimonio cultural, Brasil]

Taking as a point of departure the Pentecostal use of digital world maps, this article argues that Pentecostal movements should be understood as part and parcel of contemporary convergence culture. A reading of the remediations of the Brazilian Pentecostal church - the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (IURD) - demonstrates that the simulacrum of global evangelical presence as put forward by the IURD is supported by the interplay between the desire for immediacy and the experience of hypermediacy, but also by the close resemblance between common expectations of new media and the prophetic drive towards a global community of Christians.

This article discusses the soundscape of a favela in Rio de Janeiro. It argues that sounds, and music in particular, play an important part in the creation and maintenance of boundaries between groups in the dense urban space of the favela. The politics of presence excercised by different groups constitutes the sonic charisma of the favela. Especially in relation to Pentecostal faith, it becomes obvious how the charisma of the city and in the city are related. A focus on the soundscape of the favela highlights the fact that electronic media are woven into the fabric of its social life and are part and parcel of the production of locality. Yet the mass-mediated sounds, employed to mark space and identity also demonstrate that identity is not produced either locally or supra-locally, but rather trans-locally and that electro-acoustic technology is essential to the deterritorialization and reterritorialization of religion.