The City of Women

"City of Women, first published in 1947 and long out-of-print, is anthropologist Ruth Landes's remarkable study of "candomble religious society in Brazil just before World War II. Afro-Brazilian candomble is a woman-centered spirit possession religion evolved by West African slaves in colonial plantation societies. Conscious of gender, race, class, and sexuality, Landes draws rich portraits in "City of Women, of the priestesses and women whom she visited in private homes and observed in candomble temples. Abandoning the scientific concept of culture that dominated anthropology in her time, Landes let Brazil speak to her on its own terms. Dismissed as a chatty memoir or travelogue when it appeared in 1947, "City of Women, is now considered a trail-blazing classic of postmodern anthropology and a basic primary source for candomble studies.