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INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM «DIALOGUE AMONG CULTURES. CARNIVALS IN THE WORLD» FLORENCE, VIAREGGIO. FEBRUARY 3-7, 2016 THE CARNIVAL IN THE BIGGEST BRAZILIAN CITY ALESSANDRO DOZENA University Federal do Rio Grande do Norte/UFRN, Natal, Brazil Visiting Researcher Université Paul Valéry, Montpellier, France (*) ABSTRACT This paper attempts to understand the different uses of territory in the context of events, which are associated with the carnival, in São Paulo city. Given the different territorial uses by the Sambistas, there was a connection between the theory and the field work that achieved a critical explanation of the territorialities in the “world of Samba” and focused on a problem that involves both territory and culture. In this sense, the mechanisms through which the Samba occupy social practices and subjective representations became evident; they act as if “against-finality.” All of these practices benefit experiences and leisure over the whole year, not only at Carnival; they also structure sociability nets that generate territorialities in an essentially collective sense. Keywords: territorialities, carnival, São Paulo This paper presents concepts developed by Dozena with musical groups, carnival blocks, or Samba schools3 (2012), in which we look to identify different aspects of that do not parade in the Carnival Parade of Samba music1, relative to the division of territories in Sambadrome4, it is of less importance, although it is full São Paulo, Brazil, and to understand the processes of spontaneity, improvisation, and symbolism. involved in establishing territorialities through the This paper begins by pointing out that Samba social practices and subjective representations that presents a dimension more substantive than that of the permeate all regions of the city. For this purpose, it was carnival. Although the carnival party has been necessary to explore the relative characteristics of the represented on television shows related to the territories demarcated by the Sambistas2, as well as the Sambadrome ground as a stage, today it sews together interactions taking place within these territories. new social relations from its own movement that occurs Important to note is the fact that Samba is not in the territories of the Samba, caused by the carnival perceived solely as a musical style that is still preserved blocks, Samba circles, and movements of Samba as well in the social imagination of the Brazilian people; to the as the events that take place throughout the year in the foreigner, it is one of the most important forms of courts of the Samba schools. representation of Brazilianness (the quality or Yet, it is well worth differentiating the Samba of the characteristic of being Brazilian). It is necessary to carnival, which is a central element that resides exactly recognize that Samba is perceived as more than just a in the parties carried out in February or March, and is musical style, and that any relationships established by marked by the appropriation of some elements present the Sambistas in these neighborhoods, generally, are in Samba. Equally, it is important to reaffirm that the not accessible to the whole of society, although they “world of Samba” not only circumscribes a musical supply relevant symbolic signs where they happen. style, but also that the social-spatial practices and ways Another misconception present in both the speech of life that coexist with the events of carnival have of the Sambistas, and of some scholars on the subject, historically influenced the configuration and can be realized in the ideas regarding the carnival, association with the carnival. which are democratically defined in the cities. Another observation is that, more and more, the Furthermore, considering that the carnival is Samba movements and circles5 inform the community manifested in different districts, in general association 3 Samba school is a cultural and social association of members joining together for the purpose of learning and performing Brazilian samba music, dance, and associated practices. 4 Sambadrome of Anhembi is a space managed by the (*) Fellow of CAPES Process BEX 0663/15-8, Supervisor Municipal Town Hall of Sao Paulo where the carnival party Dominique Crozat, Department of Geography. acquires the dimensions of a television show. Contact: [email protected] 5 Samba circles functioned as territorialized spaces that 1 A Brazilian musical genre and dance style which has its roots generated social interactions and a sense of community; they in West Africa via the slave trade. literally mean Samba practiced in a circle. Principally after the 2 Sambistas are persons that performs samba (samba dancers, 1990s, groups of local musicians, who had been gathering for samba musicians or samba lovers) and who participate in the years to play Samba with a common ideology, tried to achieve activities associated with the Samba (carnival, parties of the certain general goals together. Yet, the city of Sao Paulo has Samba schools, and Samba circles). been passed by a “revitalizing wave” shaped by movements of 1 ALESSANDRO DOZENA “socially”. In this respect, they are mostly set against classic understanding of territory under the notion of the cultural values of immediate consumption, where a territorial power. In this way, the knowledge of the new means of constructing another reality is glimpsed. territories of Samba is open to the possibility of being From their direct commitment to Samba and understood in conjunction with other understandings, communitarian values, the Sambistas seize territory as enlarging the discussion from the concept of territory much for existence as for the production and and recovering other dimensions connected with daily reproduction of their material life. It is these life. The Sambistas define their territory and appropriations of the geographical space that forms the geographical space from daily life. They are the social relations they produce, and these can strengthen appropriations of the geographical space that is turned an identity that utilizes territory as its reference. into territories of Samba, appropriations assumed like Therefore, the Sambistas develop symbolic exchanges mediation of the representations built from an with the territories in which they are inserted, when imaginary connection to Samba, where the “constituting part of their equipment is the neighborhoods themselves start to promote psychological-social acquired in their process of representations of urban life. socialization and of life” (Moraes, 2001, p. 44). The Samba courts and sheds7 of the Samba schools, The notion of Sambista includes the subject that the viaducts appropriated for rehearsals, the cultural drives the “evolution” of Samba, that which does not centers, the public squares, the samba pubs, the streets depend on one’s skin color, with actions and where the Samba circles happen––these are more than independent motivations, as a process grounded in simple constructions or areas situated at some point of improvisation. In this sense, it is from the the city; these places acquire a diversity of meanings demonstrations of the Sambistas that the territories and values subjectively projected and territorialized. discussed here are produced, as will be shown. The It is interesting to note that several economic notion of territoriality that we are taking into account activities directed within the carnival exuberant parade considers the appropriation and the control of the are supported principally by temporary work, which territory by the Sambistas: from spatial mediations of includes a series of economic activities, such as the power, which stretch out from the concrete to the outsourced dressmakers’ production of fantasies and t- symbolic (Haesbaert, 2004; Souza, 1995). This notion shirts, and the assembly of the floats carried out by was developed by contact with anthropologists, who specialized professionals, many of them originating posit questions of symbolism, inheritance, and ways of from Parintins (AM). It can be confirmed that these life. The territorialities are, therefore, the strategic activities mobilize a specific market located principally actions of demarcation, of practice of power, control, in the 25 of March Street (in the center) and are and territorial existence practiced by the Sambistas, specialized in the sale of costumes, masks and props for whereby “through this control there is made possible the carnival. the imposition of the rules of access, of circulation and Notably, there seems to exist a tendency for the normativity of uses, of attitudes and behaviors” media to guide the carnival, accompanied by the (Gomes, 2002, p. 12) on a piece of the ground. invasive logic of business management in the Samba Looking to interpret the representations and schools. The latter have the obvious aim of competing identifications present in the territory and to consider it in the carnival, although internally there is the as a dimension of the human experience and physical possibility of other cultural demonstrations, and of space, we start to appreciate the appropriation that social familiarity that is not always linked to this occurs every day by the groups that inhabit these areas, competition. Principally, owing to the high profitability and to articulate the production of symbolic achieved, the traditional posture of the media and of interactions. While considering the territories in the the public powers is to privilege the depiction of the “world of Samba” from São Paulo6,

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