Carnaval de latas: um estudo fotoetnográfico sobre o Bloco da Latinha da comunidade de Madre de Deus na Bahia [Carnival of cans: a photoethnographic study of the Bloco da Latinha in the community of Madre de Deus in Bahia] | Master’s thesis

Abstract: “Carnival is a multicultural festivity known all over the world for giving us a feeling of fun and lightness, as well as a form of expression and identity. In studies on festivities such as this, it is essential to look at its cultural, social, economic and political aspects. In light of that, and that carnival also contributes to the production of new perspectives about itself and the surrounding context, we seek to describe the creation process of the ‘Bloco da Latinha’, as a cultural and social manifestation of the city of Madre de Deus, in Bahia Brazil. Guided by this vision, in this study in which we adopted a qualitative approach, we carried out a photo ethnography process in that community, in the period of 2017 to 2018. Regarding our results, we realized that the activities of the ‘Bloco da Latinha’ are surrounded by elements that go beyond the festivity, such as environmental, social and even political issues. We could observe that carnival is directly linked to the principles of the citizens in Madre de Deus, since residents come together throughout the year in favor of the festival, creating a great sense of community beyond carnival. We could also notice a feeling of individual and collective values that does not exist in the daily lives of these people. Finally, we realised that the ‘Bloco da Latinha’ does not follow a commercial logic, as it acts through sustainable and environmental actions. All these points lead us to emphasize and reaffirm the importance of this research for the formation of records and archives about the ‘Bloco da Latinha’ and the carnival of Madre de Deus, contributing to the recollection of the group and the city.”

 

This master’s thesis, written by Louyse Gerardo de Medeiros, was published in 2021 and is available, in Portuguese, at University of Minho’s Repository.

 

Photo: Passeio’s Archive

ANO

2021

AUTORES

Louyse Gerardo de Medeiros

EDITORES

Rita Ribeiro