Domingos Alvares Chapter Summary

The style that James Sweet convey in his book, Domingos Alvares. African Healing and Intellectual History and of the Atlantic World, is by providing multiple perspectives of people who had an interaction with Domingo Alvarez in the Atlantic World. . Within the seven chapters, this multilayered perspectives give a to the circumstances that led to Domingos Alvares arrival in Lisbon, the accusations of witchcraft, and the banishment to Portugal. The perspectives of Ignacio Correa Barbosa and Leonor de Oliveira convey the connection the healing to exile and slavery that were pertinent terms in the Atlantic World. In Dahomey and Obscurity chapter, Sweet contextualizes the effect of Dahomian and Portuguese government's power in turning Domingos

If his story was reformatted into a historical fiction novel then his authority on the Atlantic World would be strengthened. In order to tell the story of Domingos Alvares, the book is consisted of ten chapters of which seven focus on the narrative of Alvarez being a slave then a freed man. His narrative includes the journey from Dahomey to Recife, Brazil through the middle passage. Alvarez became a slave of Jacinto de Freitas de Silva. Under his master, Alvarez, worked at Casa forte, a sugar engenho that had existed since the mid 1500s. His healing abilities were due to him being a voodoo priest. Once his healing abilities were known, Alvarez was able to heal the slaves of Casa forte and other people because of Freitas control over him After several years, Alvarez was sent to jail and sold to Manuel da Costa Soares who was unaware of witchcraft / fetish accusations by Freitas. With this new owner, Alvarez was taken to Rio where two of his former acquaintances , Caetana Marca da Espírito Santo, and Thereza Arda, lived . By spreading rumors of his healing abilities, there were able to find him a new master , Manuel Pereira da Fonseca. In less than one year, Alvarez

Leonora de Oliveira was the mistress of Domingo Alvarez once He arrived in Rio. She convinced her husband to buy Alvares from his former owner so she would be healed from this ‘gre at healer’. For some time he was able to heal part of her ‘maleficios’ and was treated fairly. But as soon his healing techniques were not working, his freedom was limited. As his owner, Leonor treated him like a’ feiticeira’ because of the cures were not working. Because of this, his ability to move around was dictated by the commands of his mistress and her husband. It also caused Alvarez to seek revenge on his mistress and cause Alvarez to feel different, like an outsider. He eventually was sold to Jose Cardoso de Almeida, who gave Álvares his freedom . With this freedom, he set up a public house near Ignacio Correa Barbosa in Rua da Alfândega. His presence in Rua da Alfândega caused Alvarez to be ‘a great scandal ’ due to the street association with the catholic community. Ignacio Correa Barbosa , a resident in the neighborhood, saw it as his mission to ‘denounce ‘Alvares to the secular justice officials and the Inquisition. By denouncing Alvares, this caused society to label him as different kind of healer from the Catholic norms of healing. By clinging to his practice of healing, this