A vida é um remanso: performance, cultura e política no batuque de Ponto Chique (MG)

Abstract

The dissertation presents a study around the performances of the batuque, located in the municipality of Ponto Chique in the north of Minas Gerais, and its implications for the culture category, for the local politics, and for the devenir quilombola of the group. Field research was conducted in the years 2015 and 2016 and incorporates data from an experience prior to the master's degree. The text proposes to discuss categories, models and montage of the performances of the batuqueiros against a process of change of status in which a practice initially considered as thing of weak people happens to become a strong, root culture. Through the dialogue with authors of contemporary anthropological and performance theories, we discuss notions such as representation, culture, music, theatricality, and drama. We verified that, instead of being subordinated to a fixed view of culture and tradition itself, the batuqueiros, through their representations or performances, open themselves to the condition of virtuality and mobility, invigorating social life. The batuque as a performance is invention, action, and repetition; the different forms of representation are possibilities of materialization of this fluid space where the vazanteiro culture is based.