Isabella’s lion: circular care, kinship, and healing in Brazilian Candomblé

This paper centers on Isabella, a Candomblé follower who struggled with severe rheumatoid arthritis from an early age, arguing that care and self-care practices in Candomblé are intertwined to such extent that they challenge the dichotomy of caring and being cared for. In contrast to a linear model of care that positions care-giver and care-­receiver at opposite ends of care relationships, the concept of ‘circular care’ describes forms of care that are directed at others and simultaneously at oneself. Exploring the religious kinship in a Candomblé house–with Candomblé deities (orixás) and between humans–this paper shows how circular care blurs the distinction between self and other. The emic concept of ‘the double mirror’ illustrates the ­‘constitutive alterity’ of humans and orixás who relate to each other through kinship building and collective care practices. Since circular care frames one’s care for the orixás and the religious family as healing self-care, failing to provide the correct care may in turn be experienced as detrimental self-neglect. The concept of circular care thus enables a deeper understanding of complex dynamics of care and self-care in the contexts of chronic illness, religion, kinship, and beyond.