Jaciara Ribeiro dos Santos, known as Mãe Jaciara (Mother Jaciara), is a Ialorixá or mãe de santo, a religious leader of the Afro-Brazilian religion known as Candomblé. For Jaciara, the first Ialorixá from the heavily Afro-Brazilian northeastern state of Bahia to co-ordenate a federal project, one of the problems that most affects black women of Brazil is the issue of violence. “I would like to see women empower themselves more of their rights, mainly in respect to the question of violence that they suffer many times inside of the home.”
Jaciara believes that modern Brazilian society is still heavily influenced by its brutal history of slavery. “Black female slaves that were taken from Africa suffered much at the hands of female slave masters. They ended up suffering sexual violence and other types of aggressions. Like having their breasts mutilated. We don’t have to affirm ourselves in the past. But we must reflect on the present and outline paths so that we have a new future.”
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