About Bakhtin, Quilombos and Popular Culture

Abstract

This paper aims to discuss the up-to-dateness and episteme of Bakhtin’s studies about popular culture, based on performance theory and cultural studies. The focus of this study is the cultural productions of Quilombola communities in the state of Espírito Santo, Brazil, such as Ticumbi, Jongo, and Reis de Bois. Verses from the Ticumbi de São Benedito performance were selected for the analysis. Bakhtin’s studies on popular culture indicate that popular festivities, processions and performances have transformative and ambivalent potential, with emphasis on the concept of carnivalization. In the streets of the city, ambivalent laughter, hyperbolism and a subversion of hierarchies and social order celebrate the possibility of the recognition and the struggle of old African kingdoms subdued by the Atlantic Diaspora.