The Hidden Meaning of the Feast: Representations of Gender, Class and Ethnic Oppression in a Performance of the Brazilian Guerreiro

Abstract

DOI: https://doi.org/10.26333/sts.xxxviii2.05

The objective of this paper is to discuss the representations of class, gender and ethnic oppression crystalized in an excerpt of a 2019 presentation of Master Cosmo?s Guerreiro in Juazeiro do Norte, Brazil. The Guerreiro, a traditional Brazilian folkloric manifestation associated with the Christmas cycle, encompasses an Epiphany celebration characterized by a series of tunes performed by dancing, singing and/or playing?and sometimes also by acting?yielding a complex, rhapsodic syncretic text. The methodological framework for this analysis is grounded in Eero Tarasti?s Existential Semiotics, utilizing its Zemic model to facilitate a nuanced approach to understanding the construction of meaning in the syncretic performative text?from its corporeality to identity, then to social interactions, and ultimately revealing its values and Weltanschauung. By applying the semiotic perspective developed by Stuart Hall, this analysis reveals the dynamics of oppression within the discourse. This critical viewpoint is further enriched by the concept of Intersectionality as discussed by Kimberlé Crenshaw, which underscores the presence in the discourse of the imprints of the social, cultural, and political context from which enunciation takes place, highlighting its position within unequal power structures. Among the most remarkable results discussed in this paper appear the intersectionality of gender, class, and ethnic oppression in the depiction of black women in the Guerreiro, alongside the identification of the primary semi-symbolic rhetorical strategies deployed to construct this representation in the syncretic text.