Carnaval amazônico: ocupações humanas em escolas de samba de Belém do Pará e suas interfaces com a cultura

Abstract

This doctoral thesis investigates samba schools as expressions of cultural resistance, focusing on associations located on the outskirts of Belém do Pará, Brazil. From a situated perspective, informed by the author's experience as a black woman from the outskirts with roots in the Amazon riverine region, the study analyzes how popular festivals, especially Carnival, play a central role in affirming ethnic-cultural identity, building social networks, and opposing historical processes of cultural whitening. The focus of the research is the carnival makers of Belém's samba schools, with an in-depth look at the carnival processes carried out at the Agremiação Carnavalesca Beneficente e Cultural Coração Jurunense. The investigation seeks to understand how the activities of samba schools act as phenomena of resistance in the face of political, economic, and structural challenges, highlighting the transformative power of black and peripheral culture. The analysis of these festive practices is guided by an interdisciplinary approach, articulating the fields of cultural studies, human occupations, and the anthropology of carnival. Based on personal experiences with the local carnival, marked by family participation in schools such as Rancho não posso me amofiná and Academia de Samba Jurunense, the research has been consolidated since 2020 as a process of critical deepening on the dynamics of resistance present in festive manifestations in urban peripheries. The methodology adopted privileges the active participation of the subjects involved in the cultural practices analyzed, promoting a collective construction of knowledge that is politically committed and aligned with the principles of the popularization of science. In this sense, the study also seeks to highlight how the occupational dimensions related to carnival resist stigmatization and social exclusion. By reflecting on the carnival of samba schools as a space for articulation between history, popular culture, and the struggle against marginalization, this thesis contributes to the understanding of everyday celebrations and occupations as legitimate forms of resistance and cultural affirmation.