http://10.47456/argumentum.v17.2025.47276
Samba:
symbol of national culture?
Samba: símbolo da cultura nacional?
Yanne Angelim DIAS
https://orcid.org/0009-0000-8199-8826
Universidade Federal de
Sergipe (UFS), Departamento de Serviço Social,
Aracaju, SE, Brasil
(Federal University of
Sergipe (UFS), Department os Social Service, Aracaju, SE, Brazil.
e-mail:
yanneufs@gmail.com
Maria
Zelma de Araújo MADEIRA
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2291-4455
Universidade Estadual do
Ceará (UECE), Curso de Serviço Social, Fortaleza, CE, Brasil
(State University of Ceará (UECE), Social Service course, Fortaleza, CE,
Brazil)
e-mail:
zelmadeira@yahoo.com.br
Abstract: This article discusses samba and considers it’s denotations as presented
in recent academic publications. Bibliographic research was conducted through a
survey of the Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (Biblioteca Digital de Teses e
Dissertações, BDTD) on the subject. The research indicates that the statement that
samba is a musical genre symbolic of national culture, and not of
African-Brazilian culture, conspires with the violent erasure of references to an
African culture that was reinvented in Brazil by the diaspora, and that it is
functional to the myth of racial democracy in the country. Samba stands out as
one of the main expressions of inventiveness and Black resistance of African
roots in Brazil, whose contributions were decisive in the conformation of
Brazilian society in its social, economic, political, and cultural aspects.
Keywords: Samba. African-Brazilian roots. African-Brazilian Culture.
Resumo: Este artigo traz uma discussão sobre samba considerando
suas principais acepções
apresentadas na produção acadêmica recente. Realizou-se pesquisa
bibliográfica com levantamento de produções na Biblioteca Digital de Teses e
Dissertações (BDTD) sobre o tema. A partir da pesquisa, reflete-se que o
enunciado de samba como gênero musical símbolo da cultura nacional – e não como
cultura afro-brasileira – colabora para o violento apagamento das
referências da cultura africana reinventada no Brasil a partir da diáspora e é
funcional ao mito da democracia racial no país. Destaca-se o samba como uma das
principais expressões de inventividade e resistência negra de raiz africana no
Brasil, cujas contribuições foram determinantes na conformação da sociedade
brasileira em seus aspectos sociais, econômicos, políticos e culturais.
Palavras-chave: Samba. Raízes afro-brasileiras. Cultura Afro-brasileira.
INTRODUCTION
This article focusses on the theme
of samba. The so-called nationalisation of samba, in which, according to
Hermano Vianna in The Mystery of Samba (2002), the Rio de Janeiro scene
played a central role, proclaims it as a symbol of national culture, a
genuinely Brazilian music. With Afro-Brazilian roots and persecuted by the
police in the early 20th century as a symbol of vagrancy, samba underwent transformations
and, especially from the late 1930s onward in Rio de Janeiro, was used to
construct the notion of nationality expounded during the Vargas era. This
transformation highlighted the pressures of urbanisation, the impact of
capitalist industrialisation on popular music, and the development of
broadcasting in Brazil. As a result, samba became widely recognised as a
musical genre that expresses ‘Brazilianness’, and as a symbol of national
culture.
From this
perspective, samba is frequently highlighted as an attraction to strengthen
international tourism, especially during Carnival, when Rio de Janeiro is
showcased as a Brazilian landmark. Legally recognised as national cultural
heritage, Law 14,991 of September 27, 2024 (Brazil, 2024) recognises the
production of samba musical instruments and the practices associated with them
as manifestations of national culture. These
include: tambourine, cuíca, surdo, tamborim, rebolo, fritanga, tam-tam, timba,
and repique de mão.
When
we talk about samba, however, what are we referring to? The music? The dance?
Can we treat it in the singular, given its various expressions across the
country? What is samba’s relationship to what is commonly called Brazilian
national culture? Can we understand samba as a symbol of national culture? We
do not intend to answer these questions definitively, but they present
themselves as important matters that inform our studies.
According
to the Dictionary of the Social History of Samba (Dicionário da História Social do Samba, 2022), compiled by Nei
Lopes and Luiz Antônio Simas, “[...] in colonial and imperial Brazil, the
various dances of African origin, in which the ‘belly bump’ (Umbigada) was the
main characteristic, were referred to as ‘batuque’ or ‘samba’, a word of Bantu-African
origin” (Lopes; Simas, 2022, p. 247).
Some
studies on samba have focused on its historiography, debating, among other
aspects, its origins and transformations. Authors such as Roberto Moura (2004),
Nei Lopes (2005), Marcos Napolitano and Maria Clara Wasserman (2000), Ana Maria
Rodrigues (1984), and Muniz Sodré (1998) problematise the origins of samba.
Studies by Muniz Sodré (1998) consider samba as much more than a musical genre,
explaining that its musical aspects have established, inseparable relationships
with religiosity and dance, characteristics of its fundamental African roots.
Considering these and other studies leads us to samba as an expression of
complex relationships that have shaped Brazilian social formation, permeated,
among other essential determinants, by references to African culture recreated
in Brazil by the Black diaspora and their descendants, and in which samba finds
its source.
In
this article we address samba, an Afro-Brazilian cultural expression, and
consider its varied meanings as presented in recent academic literature. Taking
samba as an object of study and presenting a systematisation of its treatment
in recent theoretical works is principally a way to raise the visibility to one
of the main expressions of Black inventiveness and resistance with African
roots in Brazil, the contributions of which have been decisive in shaping
Brazilian society in its social, economic, political, and cultural aspects.
As Lélia Gonzalez highlights, “[...] Brazilian culture
is a Black culture par excellence, even the Portuguese we speak here is
different from the Portuguese of Portugal. Our Portuguese […] is ‘Pretuguês’”
(Gonzalez, 2020, p. 269). Here, she highlights the important role of Black
women, of “[...] the so-called Black mother [...]” (Gonzalez, 2020, p. 269), in
shaping Brazilian culture at its foundations, since, by breastfeeding white
children and speaking “[...] Pretuguês, [...] it is she who will pass on to Brazilians
in general, this type of pronunciation, a way of being, feeling, and thinking”
(Gonzalez, 2020, p. 269).
Samba,
therefore, presents itself as a relevant mediation for reflecting on Brazilian
social reality and its contradictions, and as a relevant topic of study for
Social Work, this being our area of expertise
and core professional practice. Although the output on samba in Social Work are
quantitatively limited, we have recently identified some works that address the
topic, including articles (such as those written by Aretha Pestana, 2013; César Maranhão, 2014; Graziela Scheffer, 2016), final coursework
(such as those authored by Andressa de Moraes, 2022; and Nery Moraes, 2023),
and books such as those edited by Marcelo Braz (2013) and Marcelo Braz and Luiz
Leitão (2022).
In Samba,
between the ‘social question’ and the cultural issue in Brazil, Marcelo
Braz (2013) draws attention to the understanding of samba as a form of artistic
creation, “[...] a modality of praxis through which men seek to modify the
social relations that exist between themselves, objectifying themselves in
specific products characteristic of artistic-cultural activity” (Braz, 2013, p.
77). And “[...] artistic-cultural praxis is also an expression of a ‘cultural
question’ inserted within the scope of social relations that shape the
Brazilian social formation” (Braz, 2013, p. 77). He highlights that samba is a
product of Brazilian social formation, in a specific historical period and
linked to specific class strata and, thus, considers that it “[...] expresses a
dialectical synthesis [...]” (Braz, 2013, p. 78) between the ‘social question’
and the ‘cultural question’ in Brazil, which “[...] maintain a relationship of
complementarity and reciprocal determination” (Braz, 2013, p. 78).
In
this dialectical relationship we need to raise the issue of race, which we
consider fundamental to understanding any constitutive aspect of the dynamics
of Brazilian reality which have been, and continue to be, produced within it
historically. This includes samba. It is noteworthy that Brazil was one of the
last countries to abolish slavery and, “[...] within the new institutionality
of the post-abolition period, the way of treating the former slaves is
structurally reconfigured in the form of racism” (Madeira, 2022, p. 79). It is
worth noting that the abolition of slavery in Brazil has not been completed,
that is,
[...] it did not cause profound changes in the land structure, nor did
it alter property law: on the contrary, it prevented institutional advances
that left gaps to the present day in economic, social, political and cultural
life responsible for the persistent naturalised racial hierarchies and
inequalities engendered by structural and institutional racism that impede the
rise and mobility of minority ethnic groups (Madeira, 2022, p. 79).
Within
this Brazilian societal dynamic, marked by the racism that structures it, Black
women are those who often suffer the most from discrimination, oppression,
exploitation, and violence This expresses an inseparable relationship between
racism and patriarchy (Barroso, 2018). In the words of Abdias Nascimento
(2016):
Brazil inherited its patriarchal family structure from Portugal, and the
price of this legacy was paid by Black women, and not only during slavery. Even
today, Black women, because of their poverty, lack of social status, and
complete helplessness, remain easy victims, vulnerable to any sexual assault
from white men (Nascimento, 2016, p. 54).
The
foundations of this social formation –
colonial-slavery-racist-patriarchal-sexist (Clóvis Moura, 1984; 1988; Beatriz
Nascimento, 2006a; 2006b; 2006c; Abdias Nascimento, 2016; Lélia Gonzalez, 2020)
– were central to the process of the structuring a class based society and the
formation of the working class in Brazil, forging particular contours for the
development of Brazilian dependent capitalism (Marini, 2011). The racism and
patriarchy that structured Brazilian social, and which are functional to dependent
capitalism (Mauriel, 2023), continue to update their expressions, recreating
themselves and operating with direct implications for the contemporary class
struggle dynamics of the country.
By
exposing structural aspects of this society, samba enables a relevant debate on
social, racial, and cultural issues in Brazil, expressing itself as much more
than a musical genre or a dance-form. But to what extent has the concept of
samba as a relevant mediation for reflecting on structural aspects of Brazilian
society been present in academic writing? How is samba highlighted in these
works?
To
understand the main denotations of
samba that appear in recent theoretical publications, we conducted
bibliographical research through a survey of scientific publications on
the subject (theses and dissertations), published between 2002 and 2022, held
by the Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations. It is worth mentioning that
this bibliographical survey, which resulted in the development of this article,
was part of broader research on the participation of women in samba, carried
out during a postdoctoral internship, from 2023 to 2024, at the State
University of Ceará (UECE), alongside a Master’s degree in Social Service, Work
and Social Issues (MASS) and the Laboratory of Studies and Research on
Afro-Brazilianness, Gender and Family (NUAFRO)/UECE.
In
this article we present a part of the results of this research, specifically
those on the approaches to samba in the academic works studied. Firstly, we
present a general characterisation of the sampled works, and then, based on the
results obtained, we highlight samba as a relevant expression of Afro-Brazilian
culture and problematise the recurring statements that present it as a musical
genre symbolic of Brazilian culture.
METHODOLOGY AND THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS
RESEARCHED
In
sharing our results we recognise the importance of highlighting our methodology
and characterising the scientific publications researched.
Our bibliographic research surveyed scientific works
available on the Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (Biblioteca
Digital de Teses e Dissertações (BDTD) digital platform, published between 2002
and 2022 on the theme of women in samba. We applied descriptors and defined
inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Using the selected descriptors: samba; women; women in
samba; samba ‘raiz’; samba ‘de roda’; samba ‘de coco’; sambadeiras; samba
‘roda’, we identified forty-three academic papers. The research sample
consisted of papers selected according to inclusion and exclusion criteria
designed to meet the proposed objectives. The inclusion criteria were theses
and dissertations published between 2012 and 2022, and theses and dissertations
focussed on the participation of women in samba in Brazil and/or the Brazilian
Northeast. The exclusion criteria were theses and dissertations that were not
published within the defined period and theses and dissertations that did not
directly address the topic of women's participation in samba in Brazil and/or
the Brazilian Northeast.
To further refine the selection of academic papers
identified, we also read the title, summary, abstract, introduction, and
concluding remarks of each publication. This led us to select ten papers (two
theses and eight dissertations). We then identified the interpretations of
samba, which lead to the reflections shared in this article. These papers are
linked to various fields of knowledge, as listed below:
Scientific
publications selected from the Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations,
2012 to 2022
|
Title |
Author |
Institute and State |
Year |
Area |
|
Aprendendo
a ler com minhas camaradas: seres, cenas, cenários e difusão do samba de roda
através das sambadeiras do Recôncavo baiano |
Queiroz, Clécia Maria de Aquino |
UFBA/BA |
2019 |
Education/ Dissemination
of knowledge |
|
Agora é
samba! Saberes afro-passistagógicos de mulheres gaúchas |
Pires, Karen de Tolentino |
UFSM/RS |
2022 |
Education/ Education and arts |
|
DISSERTATIONS |
||||
|
Title |
Author |
Institute and State |
Year |
Area/Programme |
|
Vai dar samba: o discurso amoroso do samba e a
posição- sujeito mulher |
Alves, Tássia Gimenes |
UFF/RJ |
2014 |
Philosophy
and Human Sciences/Cultural History |
|
A filha da
Dona Lecy: estudo da trajetória de Leci Brandão |
Sousa, Fernanda Kalianny Martins |
USP/SP |
2016 |
Social Anthropology/ Anthropology |
|
Trânsitos
Musicais e Comunicação Popular: Experiências de protagonismo de Mulheres
Negras em Cachoeira, BA. |
Gomes, Francimária Ribeiro |
UFBA/BA |
2017 |
Philosophy and Human Sciences/ Interdisciplinary Studies on Women, Gender, and Feminism |
|
“Samba de
coco de Arcoverde – mudança na regulação de espaço de homens e mulheres ou de
estrutura simbólica?” |
Jales, Danielly Amorim de Queiroz |
UFPE/PE |
2018 |
Philosophy and Human Sciences/ Anthropology |
|
Samba de
Pareia pelos saberes do corpo que samba |
Silva, Jonathan Rodrigues |
UFS/SE |
2019 |
Popular
Culture |
|
“Sempre fui
obediente, mas não pude resistir”: narrativas de mulheres musicistas em rodas
de samba do Rio de Janeiro |
Mostaro, Milene Gomes Ferreira |
FGV/RJ |
2021 |
Social Sciences/ Postgraduate Studies in History, Politics, and Cultural Heritage |
|
Elas
compõem, elas cantam: uma pesquisa sobre a autoria feminina de samba |
Pacheco, Ana Laura Furtado |
UFJF/MG |
2021 |
Literature – Literary Studies/Theories of Literature and Cultural
Representations |
|
A cor e o
corpo: uma história feminista do samba e do carnaval no Rio de Janeiro |
Cavalcanti,
Maria Clara Martins |
Unicamp/ SP |
2021 |
Philosophy and Human Sciences/History – Cultural History |
Source: Author’s production, 2024.
In the sample, two theses with a focus on Education
stand out, one related directly to the Dissemination of Knowledge and the other
to Education and the Arts. This was the field with the second highest
concentration of researched works, following Philosophy and Human Sciences,
which contained four of the eight selected dissertations. The remaining works
(four dissertations) are linked to the fields of Anthropology, Popular Culture,
Social Sciences, and Literature. There were no works linked to the field of Social
Work.
We found that all the publications were between 2014
and 2022, with the highest concentration in 2021 (three works) and 2019 (two
works). With four works, the Northeast region had the largest number of
publications, of which two were published in Bahia, one in Pernambuco, and one
in Sergipe. The Southeast region follows closely behind, with Rio de Janeiro
and São Paulo, each with two works, and Minas Gerais with one. The South region
had one work.
Field research with interviews appeared in seven
papers, five of them mentioning the use of observation and documentary
research. In three papers, we also verified the use of documentary research,
totalling its use in eight of the ten selected papers. Bibliographic research,
which supports all papers, is explicitly cited as part of the methodology used
in only two of them.
Most of the works studied lacked a detailed
systematisation of their methodology. This demanded special attention
throughout our research to enable us to characterise, even minimally, the types
of research adopted. The same applied to the identification of research methods
and approaches. We identified: mention of a qualitative approach and principles
of Ethnoscenology and Multi-referentiality (one study); Ethnomusicology (one
study); Discourse Analysis (one study); an experience-focused approach and Ethno-research
(one study); Ethnography (one study); Oral History (one study). One study
reported in its abstract that a research method focused on Black women was
developed for the study, based on four stages: knowing, listening, seeing, and
learning, which led us to the notion of “Escrevivência” (introduced by
Conceição Evaristo), although this was not specifically mentioned. The other
three studies do not explicitly mention the methodological approach used.
The following lays out the
interpretations of samba found in the researched works.
SAMBA IN RECENT
SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS AND THE NECESSARY VISIBILITY OF ITS AFRO-BRAZILIAN
ROOTS
We found several characterisations
of samba within the researched publications, including musical genre or style,
musical and artistic discourse, cultural manifestation or expression, cultural
heritage, dance and as an expression of Black resistance.
Of the three works that refer to
samba as a musical genre or style, Ana Pacheco’s dissertation (2021) stands
out. Characterising it as a quintessentially Brazilian musical genre, she
revisits historical aspects of its origins in rural Brazil and its relationship
with Candomblé and its practice in backyards during religious celebrations.
Addressing these historical aspects, the she refers to samba’s roots as “[...]
intercontinental [...]” (Pacheco, 2021, p. 13), African and European. She also
highlights the transformations samba underwent throughout the 20th century
during the process of urbanisation and the so-called era of cultural industry,
through which it became the quintessential Brazilian musical genre. Tassia
Alves’s dissertation (2014) also draws attention to samba’s popular and African
origins, and its relationship to European and Brazilian references:
Samba is a musical
genre of expression in Brazil, especially in the Rio de Janeiro-São Paulo axis.
It has popular origins, as it was inherited from the slaves brought to Brazil,
and is thus a mixture of African, European, and Brazilian musical styles, which
began to gain strength in society around the 1920s (Alves, 2014, p. 16).
It is important to note that this “[...] mixture of
musical styles [...]” (Alves, 2014, p. 16) resulted from the violent process of
European colonisation that marks Brazilian social formation. This was a process
of expropriation, inseparable from the mechanisms of oppression and
exploitation that characterise Brazilian society as patriarchal. Racist, and
capitalist (Barroso, 2018; Cisne; Santos, 2018).
The notion of miscegenation (between Indigenous, Black
and White people) as a characteristic of the Brazilian population, commonly
promoted as an indication of the harmony and homogenisation of social relations
in Brazil, essentially expresses the “[...] crimes of rape and sexual
subjugation committed against Black women by White men [...]” (Nascimento,
2016, p. 61) which has endured “[...] as a normal practice throughout
generations” (Nascimento, 2016, p. 61).
The assertion of miscegenation is repeatedly used to
support the idea of a racial democracy in Brazil. Abdias Nascimento (2016)
warns:
[…] based on
intellectual speculation, often with the support of the so-called historical
sciences, the concept of racial democracy was built in Brazil; according to
this, such an expression supposedly reflects a certain concrete relationship in
the dynamics of Brazilian society: that Blacks and Whites live together
harmoniously, enjoying equal opportunities for existence, without any interference,
in this game of social parity, from their respective racial or ethnic origins
(Nascimento, 2016, p. 35).
Nascimento explains that this so-called racial
democracy is a metaphor that expresses a “[...] Brazilian-style racism [...]”
(Nascimento, 2016, p. 82) that is not manifest in an obvious way as happens in
the United States, nor in a legalised way like apartheid in South Africa. It
has, however, been institutionalised “[...] effectively at official levels of
government, as well as diffusely and deeply penetrating into the social,
psychological, economic, political and cultural fabric of the country’s society”
(Nascimento, 2016, p. 82).
His studies evidence racism in the Brazilian reality,
highlighting what he perceives as the genocide of Black people in Brazil under
various strategies:
From the crude
classification of Black people as savages and inferior, to the extolling of the
virtues of mixed blood as an attempt to eradicate the ‘Black stain’; from the
effectiveness of religious ‘syncretism’ to the legal abolition of the Black
question through the National Security Law and census omission—manipulating all
these methods and resources—Brazil’s unofficial history records the long and
ancient genocide perpetrated against Afro-Brazilians. A monstrous machine
ironically called ‘racial democracy’ that grants Black people only a single ‘privilege’:
that of becoming white, inside and out. The watchword of this imperialism of
whiteness, and of the capitalism inherent to it, responds to bastardised
nicknames like assimilation, acculturation, and miscegenation; but we know that
beneath the theoretical surface remains untouched the belief in the inferiority
of Africans and their descendants (Nascimento, 2016, p. 82).
Beatriz Nascimento emphasises:
“[...] [the] Black culture, which managed to amalgamate with the Indian
culture, is really the Brazilian culture, […] which remained at the level of a
subculture […] because another culture dominated it to that level” (Nascimento,
2018, p. 125).
These analyses certainly help to reveal the
intentional erasure of the significant sociocultural heritage of Black Africans
and their descendants in the construction of Brazilian society in its diverse
aspects (social, economic, political, and cultural). It also reveals the
contributions of Indigenous peoples. We maintain that the recurring
characterisation of samba as an expression of national culture or Brazilian
culture colludes with the genocidal strategies toward Black culture.
Among publications that addressed samba in the
Brazilian Northeast, we found a convergence of analyses characterising it as a
cultural manifestation or practice and an expression of Black resistance. In
her dissertation, Francimária Gomes (2017), in addition to considering samba as
a musical genre or Black music, and noting that it is also a popular cultural
manifestation, draws attention to its characterisation as an expression of
Black resistance and highlights the importance of samba ‘de roda’, with its characteristic
traits of African diaspora culture, in the formation of the cultural identity
of the Recôncavo Baiano region.
The process of
patrimonialisation not only allowed the genre’s recognition as a musical
element but also brought visibility to an ancestral folklore. It strengthened
existing groups and influenced the emergence of others, marking its importance
in the formation of the cultural identity of the Recôncavo Baiano region, as
well as expanding the dynamics of musical spaces. Emerging within the context
of colonisation, a marginalised musical and aesthetic expression, and later
appropriated by mainstream culture (Hall, 2008; Sandroni, 2001), samba ‘de
roda’ becomes representative primarily because it maintains traces of diaspora
culture in its characteristics (Gomes, 2017, pp. 19-20).
In her thesis, Clécia Queiroz (2019), when identifying
samba ‘de roda’ as a cultural manifestation, highlights the relevant place of
dance and calls it a participatory choreographic-literary-musical,
understanding that “[...] its raw material is produced by the body and, once
transformed into music and poetry, is materialised again in the body through
dance, informed by the participation of all those present” (Queiroz, 2019, p.
24). When characterising samba ‘de roda’ as a dance and popular cultural expression,
she highlights its predominantly African roots:
Among all the cultural
translations produced in the Recôncavo Baiano region, samba ‘de roda’ is
perhaps the greatest and the one that gives it unity. Its origins are unclear,
but travellers and writers report similar cultural forms dating back to the
17th century. These forms feature a circular choreographic arrangement, where
one woman at a time moves to the centre of the circle, sensually swaying her
hips, and then withdraws, inviting another woman into the centre of the circle
with a belly-bump (SODRÉ, 1998). However, references to a type of performance
closer that currently produced as samba ‘de roda’ date back to the 19th
century. The structures of the past, both dance and music, characteristic of
the culture of the peoples of West-Central Africa (Bantu), who were
transplanted to Brazil in large numbers in the early centuries of the colony,
gradually evolved, taking on new shapes as they encountered the diverse
matrices present in the country, until they reached what is recognised today as
samba ‘de roda’. I draw attention, however, to the predominance of African
contributions to this cultural expression, which has always been practiced
predominantly by Black people (Queiroz, 2019, p. 36-37).
Jonathan Silva’s dissertation (2019), when referring
to Samba ‘de pareia’ from Mussuca, in Sergipe, characterised it as a cultural
manifestation and highlights its character of Black resistance, recognising it
as ‘quilombola’:
I argue that samba can
thus be seen as a quilombo, as this is how it presents in all its forms. From
the celebration of a child’s birth in the village to performances outside its
place of origin. Everyone must be together for the circle to occur, either directly
(sambadeiras, players, and rhyme-starters) or indirectly (listening/dancing
bodies who remain close to the group, further out on the periphery). This is
how it is understood. A circle made of parts. This reminds me that quilombo is
also a way for Black people to re-understand themselves socially and culturally
here in Brazil, very similar to a form of organisation originating from Africa
(ORÍ, 1989) (Silva, 2019, p. 39).
This meaning of samba as ‘quilombola’ (a type of
quilombo) reminds us of Beatriz Nascimento, when she states what makes
quilombos unique: “[...] it is a grouping of Black people, which Black people
undertake, which accepts Indigenous people within this structure but which have
never been accepted within Brazilian society, and are still not accepted today”
(Nascimento, 2018, p. 126). She also argues that colonialism was responsible
for the disaggregation of Black people.
[...] as a man, as a
culture, as a society, the moment it comes together it is always repeating
[...] the essence of what the quilombo would have been, you know? Because there
are many thousands of quilombos in Brazil and all over the world, with their
own characteristics. So, the ‘official order’, the ‘repression’, is what is called
‘quilombo’, which is a Black name and means union. So, the moment the Black
person unifies, comes together, he is always forming a quilombo, he is
eternally forming a quilombo, the name in African is union (Nascimento, 2018,
p. 126).
In addition to the perspectives above, Jonathan Silva
(2019) observes the artistic character of samba ‘de pareia’ (in pairs) which is
performed on stage and takes on the form of a spectacle in cultural events that
occur outside the community. The artistic dimension of samba is also
highlighted by Tássia Alves (2014) in her dissertation when, in addition to
corroborating the perspectives of its characterisation as a musical genre, a
demonstration or a cultural expression, she also highlights it as cultural heritage
and artistic discourse, emphasising “[...] that samba, as artistic discourse
and cultural heritage, is historically inserted in society” (Alves, 2014, p.
56), and that samba lyrics indicate socially constructed meanings and
ideological positions. Following this theme, Alves (2014) relies on studies by
Magalhães (2011), where he reiterates that “[...] art presents itself as the
highest expression of human thought, the only one capable of reflecting its
time and foreseeing, in an artistic way, future possibilities for society”
(Magalhães, 2011, p. 11-12).
Danielly Jales (2018), when accessing the results of
other studies on samba ‘de coco’ from Arcoverde (PE), highlights in her
dissertation that she found “[...] that ‘de coco’ has become an important
empirical indicator for understanding the processes of identity affirmation; of
constructing the concept of Blackness; as well as of legitimising
Afro-Brazilian heritage” (Jales, 2018, p. 15). She adds that studies that take
another viewpoint refer to “[...] samba “de coco” starting from a discussion
focused on its origins and developments in the cultural existence of the
manifestation and the different types of coconuts found in the Northeast”
(Jales, 2018, p. 15). She also highlights indigenous matrices associated with
the forms of dancing samba ‘de coco’, “[...] basically the ‘roda’ (circle) and
the ‘fila’ (row), which seem to have been directly influenced by Toré and other
indigenous dances (Pereira, 2005; Machado, 2001)” (Jales, 2018, p. 16).
According to this researcher, there is no consensus among samba ‘de coco’
masters in Arcoverde about its origin. Some masters recognise the origin of
‘coco’ in African culture, while others only believe it is related, and there
are those who report the existence of ‘coco’ in Arcoverde as a result of the
migration of ‘coco’ samba dancers to that city (Jales, 2018).
Milene Mostaro (2021), in her dissertation – A
study of women’s samba circles in Rio de Janeiro – and Karen Pires (2022)
in her thesis – On dance pedagogies of ‘passistas’ in Rio Grande do Sul
– corroborate the characterisation of samba as a cultural expression or
manifestation of African origin. The former also draws attention to samba as
“[...] a striking cultural phenomenon and [as being] associated with an element
of national culture and identity” (Mostaro, 2021, p. 38). The latter highlights
that “[...] samba is a space of Black identity and resistance and is inserted
into the lives of a large part of the Black Brazilian population [...]” (Pires,
2022, p. 23), thus highlighting Black identity.
The question of associating the notion of national
identity with samba fulfils an economic and political function by converting it
into a commodity and using it as a symbol of a national cohesion. This process
cannot be analysed without considering the erasure of its African and
Afro-Brazilian roots, the genocide of Black people in Brazil, according to
Abdias Nascimento (2016), and the dominating actions of another culture that
designated the social, political, economic, and cultural development of the Black
population and Indigenous peoples as a subculture, as Beatriz Nascimento (2018)
warns.
We observed diversity in the approaches to samba in
the academic works studied across eight of the ten publications within our
research sample. Of these eight works, seven demonstrate agreement by directly
highlighting their viewpoints with references to African culture and their
Black roots (both African and Afro-Brazilian roots), rather than a reductionism
to a musical genre. Specific aspects caught our attention when we observed that
two publications refer to samba as a cultural manifestation of African origin
and one defines it as Afro-Brazilian cultural heritage, and two other
productions that approach samba from the perspective of Black resistance and
quilombola communities.
FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
Our investigative pathway has employed a relevant
approach to the academic knowledge published regarding samba in Brazil and to
the different approaches to it in recent scientific productions.
This leads us to reaffirm the understanding of samba
as an Afro-Brazilian cultural expression and that it should not be reduced to
the notion of a musical genre. As Muniz Sodré (1998) reminds us, in traditional
African culture there is a unity in the relationship between music, dance,
legends, and myths. Recognising the roots of samba, therefore, requires
understanding it considering the inseparable relationship between music, dance,
and religiosity. As it developed from the African diaspora, it denotes an affirmation
of Black identity and resistance in Brazil.
Following this analytical thread, addressing samba in a
theoretical-conceptual sense suggests that we must demand recognition of all
its dimensions, which form an inseparable unity, otherwise we risk reducing it
solely to its musical dimension, fragmenting it according to Cartesian logic.
Such a reduction lends support to the much-vaunted romantic-pamphlet discourse
regarding the beauty of mixed-race Brazil, which further corroborates the myth
of Brazilian racial democracy.
Our analytical perspective clashes with a treatment of
samba, as a product of a national identity, that hides its African origins and
its fundamental characteristics as an Afro-Brazilian, and not just Brazilian,
cultural expression.
With its African and Afro-Brazilian roots, its
historical development in Brazil, its content, and its forms of performance,
samba expresses the social relations that shape the complex Brazilian reality,
marked by profound sex, gender, ethnic-racial, and class inequalities. At the
same time, it presents itself as a strategy for confronting these inequalities,
reaffirming Black resistance (and its African roots) within a patriarchal and
racialised Brazilian society.
We reaffirm our understanding that studying and
debating samba is an important mediation for dealing with the social, racial,
and cultural issues in Brazil and, in these terms, it is a topic that is not
only pertinent, but also requires addressing within the scope of Social
Service. This motivates us to continue deepening our studies regarding this
discussion.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ALVES, T. G. Vai dar samba: o discurso
amoroso do samba e a posição-sujeito mulher. 2014. Dissertação (Mestrado em Estudos da Linguagem) – Programa
de Pós-graduação em Estudos da Linguagem, Instituto de Letras, Universidade
Federal Fluminense, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, 2014. Available at: https://app.uff.br/riuff/handle/1/10149. Accessed on: 24 Feb. 2025.
BARROSO, M. F. Notas para o debate das relações de exploração-opressão na sociedade patriarcal-racista-capitalista. Serviço Social e Sociedade, São Paulo, n. 133, p. 446-462, set./dez. 2018. Available at: https://www.scielo.br/j/sssoc/a/7j9vg6SZxtg6bxSDqc9CHLd/abstract/?lang=pt. Accessed on: 26 Aug. 2025.
BRASIL. Lei nº 14.991, de 27 de setembro de 2024. Reconhece os modos de produção dos instrumentos musicais de samba e as práticas a eles associadas como manifestação da cultura nacional. Available at: https://www2.camara.leg.br/legin/fed/lei/2024/lei-14991-27-setembro-2024-796411-publicacaooriginal-173228-pl.html. Accessed on: 10 Oct. 2024.
BRAZ, M. (org.). Samba, cultura e sociedade: sambistas e trabalhadores entre a “questão social” e a questão cultural no Brasil. São Paulo: Expressão Popular, 2013. 248 p.
BRAZ, M.; LEITÃO, L. R. (orgs.). Samba, democracia e sociedade: grandes compositores e expressões de resistência cultural no Brasil. Rio de Janeiro: Mórula; São Paulo: Outras Expressões, 2022. 228 p.
CAVALCANTI, M. C. M. A cor e o corpo: uma história feminista do samba e do carnaval no Rio de Janeiro. 2021. Dissertação (Mestrado em História, História Cultural) – Programa
de Pós-Graduação em História, Instituto
de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas, Universidade
Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, 2021. Available at: https://repositorio.unicamp.br/acervo/detalhe/1166858. Accessed on: 24 Feb. 2025.
CISNE, M.; SANTOS, S. M. M. dos. Feminismo, diversidade sexual e serviço social. São Paulo: Cortez,
2018. (Biblioteca Básica de Serviço Social; v. 8).
GOMES, F. R. Trânsitos Musicais e Comunicação Popular: Experiências de protagonismo de Mulheres Negras em Cachoeira, BA. 2017. Dissertação (Mestrado Acadêmico
em Estudos Interdisciplinares sobre Mulheres, Gênero e Feminismo) – Programa de Pós-graduação em Estudos
Interdisciplinares sobre Mulheres, Gênero e Feminismo,
Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas, Universidade Federal da Bahia,
Salvador, 2017. Available
at: http://repositorio.ufba.br/ri/handle/ri/29100. Accessed on: 24 Feb. 2025.
GONZALEZ, L. Por um feminismo afro-latino-americano. In: RIOS, F.; LIMA, M. (orgs.). São Paulo: Editora Schwarcz-Companhia das Letras, 2020.
JALES, D. A. de Q. Samba de coco de Arcoverde:
mudança na regulação de espaço de
homens e mulheres ou de estrutura simbólica? 2018. Dissertação (Mestrado em Antropologia) – Programa de
Pós-Graduação em Antropologia, Departamento de Antropologia e Museologia,
Centro de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco,
Recife, 2018. Available
at: https://repositorio.ufpe.br/handle/123456789/43378. Accessed on: 24 Feb. 2025.
LOPES, N. Partido-Alto: Samba de Bamba. 1. ed. Rio de Janeiro: Pallas, 2005. 264 p.
LOPES, N.; SIMAS, L. A. Dicionário da História Social do Samba. Rio de janeiro: Civilização Brasileira. 2022.
MADEIRA, Z. de A. Avanços e desafios do debate sobre a questão racial no serviço social. Temporalis, Brasília (DF), ano 22, n. 44, p. 75-90, jul./dez. 2022. Available at: https://periodicos.ufes.br/temporalis/article/view/39047/26160. Accessed on: 26 Aug. 2025.
MAGALHÃES, B. Contradição social e representação do feminino. Maceió: EDUFAL, 2011.
MARANHÃO, C. Samba, cultura e
sociedade. Sambistas e trabalhadores entre a “questão social” e a questão
cultural no Brasil. Resenha. Revista
Serviço Social e Sociedade. São Paulo: Cortez. n. 119, p. 593-595, set.
2014. Available
at: https://www.scielo.br/j/sssoc/a/dJ59N3pYw5gTD4Z9tMxCmWy/.
Accessed on: 26
Aug. 2025.
MARINI, R. M. Dialética da Dependência. In: TRASPADINI, R.; STEDILE, J. P. (orgs.). Ruy Mauro Marini: vida e obra. 2. ed. São Paulo: Editora Expressão Popular, 2011.
MAURIEL, A. P. O. Estado, capitalismo dependente e racismo no Brasil: considerações teórico-metodológicas. Revista Libertas, Juiz de Fora, v. 23, n. 2, p. 307-328, jul./dez. 2023. Available at: https://periodicos.ufjf.br/index.php/libertas/article/view/41525. Accessed on: 26 Aug. 2025.
MORAES, A. da S. de. Entre os
bambas, os sambas e a loucura: uma análise das contribuições da dama do
samba para o Serviço Social. 2022. Trabalho de Conclusão de Curso (Graduação em
Serviço Social) - Escola de Serviço Social, Universidade Federal do Rio de
Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, 2022. Available
at: https://pantheon.ufrj.br/handle/11422/21957.
Accessed on:
26 Aug. 2025.
MORAES, N. C. S. de. Revelando a face feminina: a participação das mulheres no Samba. 2023. Trabalho de Conclusão de Curso. (Graduação em Serviço Social) – Departamento de Serviço Social, Universidade Federal de Sergipe, São Cristóvão/SE, 2023.
MOSTARO, M. G. F. “Sempre fui obediente, mas não pude
resistir”: narrativas de mulheres
musicistas em rodas de samba do Rio de Janeiro. 2021. Dissertação
(Mestrado Profissional em Bens Culturais e Projetos Sociais) – Fundação Getúlio
Vargas, Rio de Janeiro, 2021. Available
at: https://repositorio.fgv.br/items/da50ee98-6c50-4e03-be35-a7456b909e31/full. Accessed on:
24 Feb. 2025.
MOURA, C. Sociologia do negro brasileiro. São Paulo: Ática, 1988. 255p.
MOURA, C. Escravismo, colonialismo, imperialismo e racismo. Revista Afro Ásia, Salvador, n. 14, 1984. Available at: https://periodicos.ufba.br/index.php/afroasia/article/view/20824/13425. Accessed on: 26 Aug. 2025.
MOURA, R. M. No princípio, era a roda: um estudo sobre samba, partido-alto e outros pagodes. 1. ed. Rio de Janeiro: Rocco, 2004.
MUNANGA, K. Negritude: usos e sentidos. 4. ed. Belo Horizonte: Autêntica, 2024.
MUNANGA, K. Rediscutindo a mestiçagem no Brasil: Identidade Nacional versus Identidade Negra. 5. ed. Belo Horizonte: Autêntica, 2020.
NASCIMENTO, A. O genocídio do negro brasileiro: processo de um racismo mascarado. São Paulo: Perspectiva, 2016.
NASCIMENTO,
B. Quilombola e intelectual: possibilidade nos dias da
destruição. [S. l.]: Diáspora Africana; Editora Filhos da África,
2018.
NASCIMENTO,
B. Por uma história do homem negro. In: RATTS, A. J. P. Eu sou
atlântica: sobre a trajetória de vida de Beatriz Nascimento. São Paulo:
Imprensa Oficial; Instituto. Kuanza, 2006a. p. 93-98.
NASCIMENTO,
B. Negro e racismo. In: RATTS, A. J. P. Eu sou atlântica: sobre a
trajetória de vida de Beatriz Nascimento. São Paulo: Imprensa Oficial;
Instituto Kuanza, 2006b. p. 98-102.
NASCIMENTO,
B. A mulher negra no mercado de trabalho. In: RATTS, A. J. P. Eu sou
atlântica: sobre a trajetória de vida de Beatriz Nascimento. São Paulo:
Imprensa Oficial; Instituto Kuanza, 2006c. p. 102-106.
NAPOLITANO, M. WASSERMAN, M. C. Desde que o samba é samba:
a questão das origens no debate historiográfico sobre a música popular
brasileira. Dossiê Brasil, Brasis. Revista
Brasileira de História, São Paulo, v. 20, n. 39, p.167-189, 2000. Available at: https://www.scielo.br/j/rbh/a/RRXgk55Z6kfF9Xrg8bgfvsP/?format=pdf&lang=pt . Accessed
on: 25 Jul. 2025.
PACHECO, A. L. F. Elas compõem, elas cantam: uma pesquisa sobre a autoria feminina de samba. 2021. Dissertação (Mestrado em Letras: Estudos Literários) – Universidade de Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora, 2021. Available at: https://bdtd.ibict.br/vufind/Record/UFJF_1f561a49b9fa220ebf7570e4c85d8739. Accessed on: 26 Aug. 2025.
PESTANA, A. B. Samba da Vela: o samba como tradução de uma realidade. Revista Serviço Social em Revista. Londrina, v. 15, n. 2, p. 51-73, jan./jun. 2013. Available at: https://ojs.uel.br/revistas/uel/index.php/ssrevista/article/view/14468. Accessed on: 26 Aug. 2025.
PIRES, K.
T. de. Agora é samba! Saberes
afro-passistagógicos de mulheres gaúchas. 2022. Tese (Doutorado em
Educação) – Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação, Centro de Educação,
Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria, 2022. Available at: https://repositorio.ufsm.br/handle/1/26262. Accessed on: 24 Feb. 2025.
QUEIROZ, C. M. A. de. Aprendendo a ler com minhas camaradas: seres, cenas, cenários e difusão do samba
de roda através das sambadeiras do Recôncavo baiano. 2019. Tese (Doutorado
Multi-institucional e Multidisciplinar em Difusão do Conhecimento) – Programa
de Pós-Graduação Multi-institucional e Multidisciplinar em Difusão do
Conhecimento, Faculdade de Educação, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador,
2019. Available
at: https://bdtd.ibict.br/vufind/Record/UFBA-2_682af49754b3000c963de99862502648. Accessed on: 24 Feb. 2025.
RODRIGUES, A. M. Samba Negro, espoliaçăo branca. Săo Paulo, Hucitec, 1984. 143 p.
SCHEFFER, G. Serviço Social e Dona Ivone Lara: o lado negro e laico da nossa história profissional. Revista Serviço Social e Sociedade, São Paulo: Cortez, n. 127, p. 476-495, dez. 2016. Available at: https://www.scielo.br/j/sssoc/a/ns7LLKhc85GndG4DnmqGDtN/abstract/?lang=pt. Accessed on: 26 Aug. 2025.
SILVA, J.
R. Samba de Pareia pelos saberes do
corpo que samba. 2019. Dissertação (Mestrado Interdisciplinar em Culturas
Populares) – Programa de Pós-Graduação Interdisciplinar em Culturas Populares,
Universidade Federal de Sergipe, São Cristóvão, 2019. Available
at: https://ri.ufs.br/jspui/handle/riufs/13451. Accessed on: 24 Feb. 2025.
SODRÉ, M. Samba, o dono do corpo. 2. ed. Rio de Janeiro: Mauad, 1998. 111 p.
SOUSA, F. K. M. A filha da Dona Lecy: estudo da trajetória de Leci Brandão. 2016.
Dissertação (Mestrado em
Antropologia Social) – Programa de Pós-Graduação em Antropologia Social,
Departamento de Antropologia, Faculdade de Filosofia Letras e Ciências Humanas,
Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, 2016. Available at: https://doi.org/10.11606/D.8.2017.tde-19012017-112637. Accessed on: 24 Feb. 2025.
VIANNA, H. O mistério do samba. Rio de janeiro: Jorge Zahar Editor, 2002. 193p.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yanne Angelim Dias worked on the concept, investigation, methodology,
project administration and the writing of the original manuscript.
Social
worker. PhD in Social Work. Postdoctoral fellow at the State University of
Ceará (Universidade Estadual do Ceará, UECE) (2023-2024), studying
women in samba. Professor of the Department of Social Service at the Federal
University of Sergipe (Universidade Federal de Sergipe, UFS).
Maria Zelma de Araújo Madeira worked on the project administration and project supervision.
Social worker. PhD in Sociology. Professor of
the Social Work Programme and the Master's Programme in Social Work, Labour,
and Social Issues at the State University of Ceará (Universidade Estadual do
Ceará, UECE). Founder and coordinator of the NUAFRO/UECE. The current State
Secretary for Racial Equality of Ceará.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Silvia Neves Salazar – Chief Editor
Maria Lúcia Teixeira Garcia – Editora
Submitted on: 15/3/2025.
Revised on: 13/6; 28/7/2025. Accepted on: 16/9/2025.
|
This is an article
published with open access, under Creative Commons Attribution license which
permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any media without restriction,
provided that the original work is correctly cited. |
