The Universal Church in Portuguese urban context: a spatial and ethnographic analysis of the occupation strategies of urban space by the UCKG in Lisbon and Porto

• Grant number: 16/12920-5
• Support type: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): September 15, 2016
• Effective date (End): January 14, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Anthropology
• Principal researcher: Paula Montero
• Grantee: Gustavo Aires Tiago
• Supervisor abroad: Donizete Aparecido Rodrigues
• Home Institution: Centro Brasileiro de Análise e Planejamento (CEBRAP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Research place: Universidade da Beira Interior (UBI), Portugal
• Associated to the scholarship: 15/24267-1 - Religion, law and secularism: a new civic repertoire in Contemporary Brazil, BP.IC

Abstract

The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG) was founded in 1977 in the city of Rio de Janeiro, it has become one of the best-known Protestant churches in Brazil. Its expansion to Europe began in Portugal debuting its activities in 1989 under the coordination of Bishop Paulo Roberto Guimarães. Currently the UCKG in Portugal assumes the name of the Help Center (CdA) and has about 130 temples throughout the Portuguese territory also has a media apparatus with radio stations, TV station and newspaper in the country. This project seeks to understand how to organize the temples of the Universal Church in Portuguese cities, especially in the cities of Porto and Lisbon. Also, learn how is the dynamics surrounding the temples and the apparatus used for public attraction, as the various social actions and projects implemented in Brazil, which are reconstructed and applied in the social context of the faithful of CdA. Through the analysis of a bank temples address data of the UCKG Portugal and georeferencing tool will analyze the layout of these devices in the urban space of Portuguese cities and how it interacts with the social reality of the surroundings of some temples. It will be possible to draw a parallel between Brazil and Portugal and clarify a little more the strategies of the Universal Church in the construction and occupation of urban space. (AU)