Where are bumba-meu-boi groups going and how do they perform?

• Grant number: 19/22648-9
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Effective date (Start): March 01, 2020
• Effective date (End): April 30, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Arts - Music
• Principal researcher: Suzel Ana Reily
• Grantee: Luiza Fernandes Coelho
• Home Institution: Instituto de Artes (IA). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 16/05318-7 - Local musicking: new pathways for ethnomusicology, AP.TEM

Abstract

This project aims to understand how bumba meu boi grupos and its communities comprehend, live and construct localities of São Luís, capital of Maranhão, state in the north of Brazil, through their performances and musicking (SMALL, 1999). This questions will be investigated in ethnographic research, adopting an "insider and closer view" (MAGNANI, 2002) of the activities of a bumba meu boi group, that happen due to the june festivities in the city of São João. The moves and performances of these groups instigate discussions about belonging, social inequalities and the function of musicking as shaper of spaces (CERTEAU, 1998) and identities. This research aims to contribute in the discussion about how performances in urban space affect the life of human beings and the dynamics of the city, also reflecting about how urban rituals can be moments of messing with social hierarchies. (AU)