Memories of a "Black Comunity: a study on the life history of musical agents

• Grant number: 12/09257-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: November 01, 2012
• End date: May 31, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Anthropology
• Principal Investigator: Rose Satiko Gitirana Hikiji
• Grantee: Erica Giesbrecht
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 09/52880-9 - The film experience in Anthropology, AP.TEM
• Associated scholarship(s): 15/01078-9 - The chalenge of filming musically embodied memories: when ethnomusicology meets Visual Anthropology, BE.EP.PD

Abstract

This project derives from a previews research on the memory of black elders resident in Campinas, culturally active since their youth, which resulted in the book "A Memória em Negro: Sambas de Bumbo, Bailes Negros e Cordões de Carnaval construindo a comunidade negra de Campinas". Engaged in collective practices involving music and dance, these men and women were significant contributors to the conformation of a "black community" in Campinas, visibly cohesive and well organized until the present days. In order to deepen the understanding on some of these people's life history, which is not separated from their cultural practices, this project intends to carry out a visual narrative of their daily lives and their musical and performative expressions, basing on theoretical contributions from the oral history studies, anthropology of performance, visual anthropology and ethnomusicology. Among the questions to be explored in this project is the perception and integration of these people in the current revival of African-Brazilian expressive cultures movement, particularly vigorous in the city of Campinas.The use of video ethnography in this project is not merely methodological but, in addition to record the dimensions of the lives of these ladies and gentlemen that do not fit in a written text, is intended to produce an audiovisual material that will allow a joint reflection between the researcher and her interlocutors on the importance of their practices. This project integrates the thematic project: "Experiencing the movie in Anthropology", currently developed at the University of Sao Paulo.