Carnaval das "mina": resistência feminista no carnaval de Belo Horizonte

Abstract

This research aimed to understand how the groups formed exclusively by women organize and occupy the spaces of the carnival to claim it as a space for feminist struggle. The study is justified by the fact that Carnival is one of the most prominent parties in Brazil, recognized and visited by national and international audiences, denoting the unifying power and the ability to accommodate the different subjects in their singularities. In addition, Belo Horizonte's carnival is one of the fastest growing in Brazil, being part of the context of Brazilian carnivals where the tendency to politicize the party is recurrent. Thus, several blocks have presented banners of social struggles, with significant repercussions today, such as the insertion of feminist movements within this party, present in several cities. In Belo Horizonte, there is a specific procession composed of blocks formed exclusively by women, the "Carnaval das Mina", object of this investigation. The objectives were: a) to understand how blocks formed exclusively by women occupy the space of carnival in Belo Horizonte, b) to discuss the importance of this exclusive space within the party, as well as the confrontations and difficulties they encountered in this process, and c) investigate, in the perception of these women, whether the feminist struggle can be carried out at Carnival, verifying the way in which they organize affirmative and empowering actions, during the party and throughout the year. A qualitative methodology was used, seeking to understand and analyze the data from the perspective of the participants within their diversity, in dialogue with feminisms. The methodology was divided into three stages: bibliographic survey, interviews with representatives of the studied blocks and content analysis by Bardin (2010), with the contribution of the MAXQDA 2020 software. The main results showed that, first, these women put themselves at the party from the politicization of their bodies in a movement of resistance against sexism, occupying the carnival party with the theme of feminisms; From this, these blocks are configured as large collectives that help in the political formation of the women who compose them, creating a space/time where various aspects of social life are discussed and problematized and in this way, the blocks are organized as a large support network. mutual; Finally, it was possible to verify that the blocks researched here develop several actions during the carnival and throughout the year that catalyze the empowerment processes of these women.