VISITING THE LIVING MUSEUM: BRAZILIAN ROOTS TOURISM PERFORMANCE AND THE EMANCIPATORY POSSIBLE by Diego Villada Bachelor of Science, University of Evansville, 2006 Master of Fine Arts, Virginia Commonwealth University, 2008 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2018 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH KENNETH P. DEITRICH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Diego Villada It was defended on April 09, 2018 and approved by Michelle Granshaw, PhD, Assistant Professor, Theatre Arts Kathleen George, PhD, Professor, Theatre Arts Jennifer Josten, PhD, Assistant Professor, History of Art and Architecture Dissertation Chair: Lisa Jackson-Schebetta, PhD, Assistant Professor, Theatre Arts ii Copyright © by Diego Villada 2018 iii VISITING THE LIVING MUSEUM: BRAZILIAN ROOTS TOURISM PERFORMANCE AND THE EMANCIPATORY POSSIBLE Diego Villada, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2018 This dissertation focuses on the intersection of Latin American studies, tourism, and performance in the northeastern state of Bahia, Brazil. I examine the generative outcomes associated with Brazilian roots tourism performance. Brazil is a unique case in the study of roots tourism –travel undertaken in order to connect with identity based on origin or homeland— because members of the African diaspora travel there to connect with their African identity, even if their ancestry is not Brazilian. The northeastern state of Bahia is considered to be a “Black Mecca” or “Black Rome,” because it is promoted by tourism agencies as the most Afro-centric place in the hemisphere. Roots tourism to Brazil, especially by US-African-Americans, has been implicated in the perpetuation of essentializing notions of Black-ness / African-ness. My argument is that even though hemispheric hegemonic relationships cannot be undone through transnational travel alone, performance, with its slipperiness, provides enough wiggle room and cultural agency to possibly provide emancipatory experiences for some or all of the participants within the scenario of a tourism encounter. The emancipatory possible is my term for utopian possibilities as a result of engaging in roots tourism. This argument is explored through two case studies based on performance ethnography fieldwork in Bahia during the summer of 2016. The first case study features a group of US-African-American young women on a trip of empowerment and self-discovery to the city of Salvador. The second case study features the renown Festa da Boa Morte (Festival of Good Death), a public festival sponsored by the Sisterhood of Good Death –a Catholic lay organization iv of Afro-Brazilian women of advanced years— in the town of Cachoeira. An exploration of the staged authenticity of tourism encounters and the implications of digital ethnography and storytelling are also examined in relation to the emancipatory possible. This project promotes the idea that the emancipatory possible exists on a spectrum and thus it can be increased through the deployment of strategies such as: making staged authenticity visible, engaging as deeply as possible in a porous event, and having that engagement be through body-kinesthetic means. v ÍNDICE (TABLE OF CONTENTS) ÍNDICE (TABLE OF CONTENTS) ......................................................................................... VI LISTA DE FIGURAS (LIST OF FIGURES) ........................................................................... XI RECONHECIMENTOS (ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS) ........................................................ XII ANTES DE COMEÇAR (BEFORE WE BEGIN) ................................................................... XV 0.0 INTRODUÇÃO (INTRODUCTION) ........................................................................ 1 0.1 GET TO KNOW ME AS AN ARTIST-SCHOLAR ......................................... 1 0.1.1 How I write and what I choose to write about ........................................... 1 0.1.2 What drew me to tourism............................................................................. 4 0.1.3 Embracing political struggle and not being ashamed of advocacy .......... 6 0.1.4 How the project found me ............................................................................ 8 0.1.5 Goals for this project .................................................................................... 9 0.1.6 Argument, archive, interventions .............................................................. 11 0.2 METHODS ......................................................................................................... 13 0.3 TERMINOLOGY .............................................................................................. 16 0.3.1 Performance, Black-ness, Latinidade, and other relevant terms ........... 16 0.3.2 Emancipatory Possible ............................................................................... 17 0.3.3 Performance ................................................................................................ 20 0.3.4 Digital Ethnography ................................................................................... 21 0.3.5 Participatory Heritage and Digital Storytelling ....................................... 22 0.3.6 Roots Tourism ............................................................................................. 24 0.3.7 Simming ....................................................................................................... 25 vi 0.3.8 Latinidade, Brasilidade, and Baianidade ................................................. 27 0.3.9 Staged Authenticity ..................................................................................... 30 0.3.10 Black-ness in Brazil & the Afro-Brazilian identity .................................. 33 0.4 WHAT EACH CHAPTER OFFERS ............................................................... 34 0.4.1 Chapter one: Why Brazil? And other relevant questions ....................... 34 0.4.2 Chapter two – case study: Essence of a Goddess/Girls for a Change .... 36 0.4.3 Chapter three – case study: Festa & Irmandade da Boa Morte ............. 39 0.4.4 Chapter four: Emancipatory possible & Digital Storytelling ................. 41 0.5 CLOSING COMMENTS OF THIS INTRODUCTION ................................ 42 1.0 CAPÍTULO UM (CHAPTER ONE) ........................................................................ 43 1.1 BRAZIL: WHERE DO WE START? ............................................................. 43 1.2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ...................................................... 52 1.2.1 Afro-descendant Performance ................................................................... 52 1.2.2 Sex tourism, Black pain, and Ginga .......................................................... 59 1.2.3 Roots Tourism and Performance in Brazil ............................................... 61 1.3 WHY TOURISM? ............................................................................................. 63 1.4 NETWORKS + PAN-AFRICANISMS ............................................................ 72 2.0 CAPÍTULO DOIS (CHAPTER TWO) .................................................................... 83 2.1 PREFACE TO THE CASE STUDY: ESSENCE OF A GODDESS/GIRLS FOR A CHANGE ............................................................................................................... 83 2.2 IN THEIR OWN WORDS: THREE YOUNG WOMEN .............................. 90 2.3 CASE STUDY: ESSENCE OF GODDESS TRIP .......................................... 92 2.3.1 Transparency, Ethics, and Access ............................................................. 97 vii 2.3.2 Description of the trip overall .................................................................. 104 2.3.3 More on the term Emancipatory Possible .............................................. 112 2.3.4 Further Description of the Tourism Encounter — performance ......... 116 2.3.5 Workshop Day ........................................................................................... 118 2.3.6 Scenario ...................................................................................................... 126 2.3.7 Analysis ...................................................................................................... 139 *** INTERMISSÃO (INTERMISSION) *** ......................................................................... 155 2.4 IMAGES: ESSENCE OF A GODDESS – JUNE 2016; SALVADOR ........ 155 2.5 IMAGES: BOA MORTE FESTIVAL – AUGUST 2016; CACHOEIRA .. 161 3.0 CAPÍTULO TRÊS (CHAPTER THREE) ............................................................. 168 3.1 CASE STUDY: IRMANDADE DA BOA MORTE ...................................... 168 3.2 METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................... 177 3.3 FESTA DA BOA MORTE – OVERVIEW & MENTION OF ACCESS ... 185 3.3.1 Access ......................................................................................................... 188 3.4 CRITICAL AUTO ETHNOGRAPHY OF PERFORMANCE (WHILE FOCUSING ON THE OTHER) ...................................................................................... 191 3.4.1 Specific formatting for this section .......................................................... 191 3.4.2 Cachoeira ................................................................................................... 193 3.4.3 Visiting the Boa Morte Headquarters and Museum ............................