The first phase of our research is a study-abroad course taught through the Department of Dance, Peck School of the Arts, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. A similar class has been offered twice before, and we have been accompanied in other years by undergraduate research students who were supported by the university to carry out original research on Northeast Brazilian cultura popular.
The course includes the study of samba, capoeira (the Brazilian martial art), religious institutions and history, Afro-Brazilian spiritual culture, music and dance. All of the students have had training in dance or capoeira, and will be given additional instruction during the trip.
Simone Ferro leads the class, assisted by Meredith Watts who is also the project photographer (and blogger). Together they have led classes and conducted research in Brazil for nearly a decade. They have presented a number public presentations and academic papers on the Northeast Brazilian dance/festival known as the Bumba-meu-boi, and are in the last stages of developing a book on the struggle between heritage culture (“tradition”) and modernization (innovation and change) in organization, performance, funding, politics, religion, race, generational change, and gender transformations in the Bumba-meu-boi. The festival, like capoeira, samba and religious practice in the Northeast, show the strong interaction of indigenous, European and African cultural elements in the making of Brazil’s culture.
The class left for Salvador (Bahia) in early June, moved on to Sao Luis (Maranhao), and concluded with a brief stopover in Rio de Janeiro on the way back to theUnited States. This timing allowed students to observe the “Saint’s Days” of celebration in Sao Luis, where the events are marked by the days in the religious calendar honoring Saint John (Sao Joao), Saint Peter (Sao Pedro), and Saint Martial (Sao Marcal).
