Exploring the Spiritual Landscape of Sidney Greenfield
From Brooklyn to Brazil: The Anthropologist's Journey
Join us as we delve into the early life of Sidney Greenfield, a pioneering anthropologist who has profoundly influenced the understanding of religion in both Brazil and the United States.
The Remarkable Journey of Sidney Greenfield
Sidney Greenfield rocketed from a humble beginning in Brooklyn to the top of his profession in anthropology. Although his parents were never interested in religion, somehow Greenfield is now one of the leading authorities on religion among Brazilians and an astute observer of the new trends among Christian nationalists. Greenfield goes where the evidence is, whether in the Caribbeans Islands, the jungles and favelas of Brazil, or the mushrooming religious congregations of Brooklyn.
On Journey TV, we start coverage of his story from Brooklyn to graduate school. Later, we plan on covering his scholarship up to today.
Sidney Greenfield's Legacy in Anthropology
Pioneering Research in Brazil
“The first time I witnessed a Spiritist surgery, a young man named Jose Carlos Ribeiro inserted a used scalpel taken from a tray that I was holding, and plunged it into the eye of an elderly man. The patient did not move….”
Inspired Research on Brazilian Pentecostalism in NYC
Insights into religious syncretism
This book highlights the ways in which religions and cultures on both sides of the Atlantic have been assimilated and innovatively changed. The book focuses on religious syncretism in Brazil, Jamaica, and other parts of the Caribbean and West Africa.
Institutional Affiliations
Professor of Anthropology Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Co-chair of the Columbia University Seminars on Brazil, Studies in Religion and Contents and Methods in the Social Sciences.
Research
Ethnographic research in Barbados and New Bedford, Massachusetts, but mostly in Brazil, and ethnohistorical and historical research in Portugal and the Atlantic Islands on problems ranging from family and kinship, patronage and politics, the history of plantations and plantation slavery and entrepreneurship to Spiritist surgery, religion and healing, spirit medium-ship, syncretized religions and Evangelical Protestants in Brazilian politics.
Publications
He is author and/or editor of nine books, producer, director and author of five video documentaries, and has published some 150 articles and reviews in books and professional journals.
Insights on NYC Religions
July 27, 1969 1st Korean church in Queens, NY
“Retro Flashes” are Journey’s quick takes on moments of history that have made New York City what it is, what New Yorkers are, and, maybe, what it will be. 1969 Korean Church of Queens – 24 people In 1969, 24 Korean Americans started gathering in Flushing, Queens...
Street Artist Jesus Saves is in the house! JTV!
New York is a secular city with plenty of skepticism to go around. So how did a kid from Bushwick manage to break into the city’s visual bloodstream with a message half the city might ignore and the other half might question? The answer lies in the story behind the...
A Journey through NYC religions: Sixteen Years Seeing New York’s Religious Life
July 2010 came into Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, like a snarling bully, part of a record heat wave, according to The New York Times. Tempers were on edge. Uneasiness followed the shooting of a gangster nicknamed “Ghost” at a local barbershop. There was a heated debate...
