They are going to display your head in the street market: the cult or occult by Brazilian popular culture in the politics of memory of cangaço social banditry between folklore and heritage (1938-1989)

Abstract

The project analyses the memory of cangaço, a social banditry phenomena in the Northeast region of Brazil, which gives meaning to this memory as an identity element in the imaginary of the nation throughout the twentieth century. Having the years of 1938 and 1989 as its main marks, for referring to the year of the death of Lampião, "King of Cangaço" in the Cave of Angico- SE and the year of the official preservation of this place. In this scenario, the structural problem consists of inquiring re-significations of a sensitive issue, under public debate, which have made them recurrent in certain written, visual and material cultures, regarded as national with wide repercussions abroad as indicated by its traces in the Centro Nacional de Folclore e Cultura Popular (CNFCP) (National Center of Folklore and Popular Culture) and Instituto de Estudos Brasileiros (IEB). (IEB-Brazilian Studies Institute). Faced with these representational worlds, the performance is sought to be investigated, in particular of scholars using direct testimonies of the phenomena, noticing cultural mediations in the social and professional fields and in its political projects. Experiences that have become long term references, such as criminologist doctor Estácio de Lima, scholar Cristina Machado, folklorist Câmara Cascudo, filmmaker Glauber Rocha and memoirist Antônio Amaury. The central assumption suggests that inquiring the popular culture senses in a dispute between folklore and Heritage is a way to understand dilemmas around the subject under the perspective of cultural memory studies. Based upon the Studies of the Memory, but into a dialogue with the Intellectual History of Visual Culture and of the Heritages, a variety of sources are examined with attention given to its compilations in the so called national archives. (AU)