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UC Berkeley UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Carnaval, Samba Schools and the Negotiation of Gendered Identities in São Paulo, Brazil Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/235051jr Author Brunet, Carla Sacon Publication Date 2012 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Carnaval, Samba Schools and the Negotiation of Gendered Identities in São Paulo, Brazil by Carla Sacon Brunet A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Music in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Jocelyne Guilbault, Chair Professor Bonnie Wade Professor Emeritus Percy Hintzen Spring 2012 Carnaval, Samba Schools and the Negotiation of Gendered Identities in São Paulo, Brazil © 2012 by Carla Sacon Brunet Abstract Carnaval, Samba Schools and the Negotiation of Gendered Identities in São Paulo, Brazil by Carla Sacon Brunet Doctor of Philosophy in Music University of California, Berkeley Professor Jocelyne Guilbault, Chair The behaviors and interactions that enact specific gender identities are assumed by many Brazilians to be “natural.” Within the context of samba schools, the distribution of specific performance roles has always been informed by the assumption that there are natural feminine and masculine spaces. Thus, samba school members have well defined performance roles that are hierarchically structured. In this dissertation, I argue that gendered identities are constructed and articulated in the process of cultivating specific performance roles within samba schools. I am particularly interested in highlighting the ways in which specific femininities and masculinities came to be taught, learned and naturalized in the lives of samba school members, as they engage in strategies of social- and self-discipline while preparing for the carnaval parade each year. Central to my argument is the idea that dance/musical competence is intertwined with notions about the physical body and the nurturing of particular character dispositions. By analyzing specific historical moments, discourses and samba schools’ micro-practices and disciplinary methods, I show how performance roles are determined and defined by perceptions regarding gender as well as age, body type, skin color, behavior and bodily deportment. Furthermore, I demonstrate how the act of dancing and/or playing music in distinctive ways has become, at once, critical markers of specific femininities and masculinities, and also the way through which one learns how to be feminine or masculine. Finally, I explore how some samba school members have been able to construct alternative capacities for themselves by examining the circumstances that have allowed these participants to operate differently despite the given assumptions about the division of gendered identities. 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ................................................................................................................................................... 1 Figures ..................................................................................................................................................... ii Examples ............................................................................................................................................... vi Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... vii Chapter One: Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1 The Research ........................................................................................................... 2 Fieldwork ................................................................................................................ 7 Ethnography “at Home“ ....................................................................................... 9 Organization ......................................................................................................... 10 Chapter Two: Historical Legacies ............................................................................................. 12 Colonial Discourse ............................................................................................... 15 Regulating Spaces and Regulated Subjects ...................................................... 21 Samba, Samba Schools and Nation Building ................................................... 32 Chapter Three: The Cultural Work of Discourse and Practices ................................... 37 Speaking of Sadness ............................................................................................ 39 The Power of Carnaval ........................................................................................ 42 Singing as a Transformative Musical Encounter ............................................. 47 Acquiring Attentive Singing Skills .................................................................... 53 The Calendar Cycle and its Expanding Soundscapes .................................... 56 The Samba Enredo ................................................................................................ 59 Singing and Modes of Interaction ..................................................................... 62 Chapter Four: Discipling Bodies and Shaping Identities ................................................ 66 Constructing a Dominant Masculinity ............................................................. 68 The Percussion Ensemble: “The Heart of a Samba School” ............................................... 68 Idealized Versions of Femininity ....................................................................... 79 Porta-bandeira: The Queen of a Samba-School ....................................................................... 79 Passista: Solo Samba Dancers ......................................................................................................... 90 Baianas .................................................................................................................................................... 100 Chapter Five: Unwritten Narratives of Alternative Subjectivities ........................... 108 Voicing Counter Narratives ............................................................................. 110 Miriam Cápua and Águia’s female ensemble .......................................................................... 110 Eliana de Lima ..................................................................................................................................... 118 Contested Ground: The Mestre-sala Role ........................................................ 126 Group Oriashé: An Emergent Alternative ..................................................... 130 Concluding Remarks .................................................................................................................... 135 Bibliography .................................................................................................................................... 143 Glossary of Terms .......................................................................................................................... 154 Appendix ........................................................................................................................................... 159 i FIGURES Figure 2-1. Indoor Ball at Copacabana Palace, Rio. http://www.rio- carnival.net/carnaval/bailes-carnaval-rio-de-janeiro.php Figure 2-2. Carnaval in Salvador. http://www.mundodastribos.com/programacao-carnaval-2011- salvador-bahia-agenda.html Figure 2-3. Esfarrapados Group in São Paulo. http://noticias.r7.com/carnaval2010/fotos/veja-grandes-destaques-do- carnaval-desta-segunda-20100215.html Figure 2-4. Samba School Parade and Competition at São Paulo Sambadrome. http://turismo.culturamix.com/atracoes-turisticas/anhembi-carnaval Figure 2-5. Demolition of São Bento Hill for the construction of Avenida Central (now Rio Branco) in Rio 1904. Photograph by Marc Ferrez, Jennings Hoffenberg Collection. Source: Meade, 1997. Figure 2-6. Avenida Central in the center of Rio following renovations, c. 1908. Photograph by Augusto Malta, Jennings Hoffenberg Collection. Meade, 1997. Print. Figure 2-7. Largo do Rosário in São Paulo city, c. 1902 after renovations. Photograph of Guilherme Gaensly. Gaensly and Kossoy, São Paulo, 1900. Print. Figure 2-8. Depiction of the Corso. Fon-Fon, February 25, 1922. Print. Figure 2-9. Photograph of Corso in Rio early 20th Century. O Estado de São Paulo Newspaper, 1996. Print. Figure 2-10. Depiction of the Fon-Fon Cordão. Fon-Fon, February 18, 1909. Print. Figure 2-11. Drawing of Raul Pederneiras. O Malho, February 21, 1903. Print. Figure 2-12. Depiction of Carnaval Ball and the use of the “Venetian” style mask partially hiding the face of a semi-naked woman. O Malho, February 13, 1904. Print. Figure 2-13. Map of São Paulo Sambadrome’s Sectors. http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/especial/2004/carnaval/sao_pa ulo-como_chegar.shtml ii Figure 2-14. Photograph of Diógenes Muniz showing people hanging from the metal fence at the end of the dispersion area of the São Paulo’s Sambadrome in 2007. http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/cotidiano/ult95u131928.shtml Figure 3-1. Newspaper article on Ash Wednesday. A Gazeta, February 12, 1986: 15.