The Discursive Arena of the Streets and the Postmodern Condition: from Demonstration to Metacarnivalization

Abstract

The aim of this article is to show discursive moves in utterances realized in posters in the series of demonstrations that took place in Brazil in 2013 and were mobilized on-line. These moves signalize relevant ethical and political change. From a dialogic point of view, the demonstrations are described as a discursive communicative chain inspired by the process of carnivalization. The scenario of the streets and of the public square, the momentary alteration in the ordinary social order and the ideological tension which can promote social changes authorize the comparison between the discursive nature of the demonstrations and the carnival process. From that standpoint, concepts of contemporary philosophy, such as metanarrative and the postmodern condition, and the theory of the utterance are articulated in order to interpret the axiological change expressed by the posters. The analysis developed indicates that what started as a multiple agenda demonstration seems to have discursively changed into an ideologically fragmented movement. This fragmented movement allows meaningless utterances to emerge, suggesting that a metacarnivalization takes place.