‘On my mind's world map, I see an Africa’: Bando de Teatro Olodum's re-routing of Afro-Brazilian identity

Abstract

A group of black children in the city of Salvador da Bahia, intrigued by their teacher's explanation that black Brazilians are descendants of Africans, embark on a quest to search for Africa. This is the central plot of Áfricas – Bando de Teatro Olodum's theatre production for young people that premiered in 2007 (Teatro Vila Velha, Salvador da Bahia). In this critical reflection I focus on the productive intersections between diaspora and race, and consider the ways in which Áfricas claims a diaspora sensibility for Afro-Brazilians by enacting, both for the performers and for the audience, an awareness of themselves as an ethnic group with transnational roots. Drawing on understandings of diaspora as a contingent process rather than a way to reify certain communities, I argue that Áfricas' staging of the connections between Brazil and Africa opens up a space in which young audiences can engage in what Chantal Mouffe calls ‘agonistic pluralism’ (2007), a debate in which passions and affects critically inform ‘the creation of collective political identities’. I assert that the show's exploration of new formulations of Afro-Brazilian identity serves a therapeutic function for the black community in Salvador, who are often excluded in a country where the whiter one looks ensures greater access to social and economic privileges.

薩爾瓦多市的一組黑人兒童對他們老師關於巴西黑人是非洲人後代的說法產生了興趣，於是決定開始探尋非洲。這就是Bando de Teatro Olodum為年輕人打造的戲劇《非洲》中的情節，該劇於2007年首次公演(Vila Velha劇場, 薩爾瓦多)。在這份批判性反思研究中，我主要著眼于僑民與種族之間的交匯與碰撞，思考《非洲》一劇如何通過演出傳遞他們聲稱的僑民演員與觀眾身為非裔巴西人的自身敏感，以及“跨國族群的自覺” (Richards 2010, 203)。考慮到僑民問題是一個視情況而定的過程而非“具體定義某個特定群體” (Bauböck 2010)，我論證道《非洲》一劇將巴西與非洲的聯繫舞臺化，為年輕觀眾提供了平臺，使他們能夠參與Chantal Mouffe所言的“競爭多元”（2007）中來，並進行一場激情批判性指導“集體政治身份營造”的辯論。我認為該劇關於非裔巴西人身份認知的全新探索為薩爾瓦多的黑人群體，即被這群經常在“白人擁有更多社會經濟保障與提升” (Sterling 2012, 4)的國家排斥的人們提供了有益的治癒功能。

Un grupo de chavales negros en la ciudad de Salvador de Bahía, intrigados por las explicaciones de su profesor de que los brasileños negros son descendientes de africanos, se embarcaron en una misión para buscar África. Este es el argumento de Áfricas – La producción teatral del Bando de Teatro Olodum para gente joven que se estrenó en 2007 (Teatro Vila Velha, Salvador de Bahía). En esta reflexión crítica me centro en las intersecciones productivas entre diáspora y raza, y considero los modos en que Áfricas reclama una sensibilidad diáspora para los Afro-Brasileños al personificar, tanto para los actores como para el público, ‘una conciencia de sí mismos como un grupo etno-transnacional’ (Richards 2010, 203). Usando los conocimientos de diáspora como un proceso contingente más que como ‘definiciones que cosifican grupos particulares’ (Bauböck 2010), sostengo que la puesta en escena de Áfricas de las conexiones entre Brasil y África abre un espacio en el que el público joven puede conectar en lo que Chantal Mouffe denomina ‘pluralismo agnóstico’ (2007), un debate en el que la pasión y el afecto informan críticamente ‘la creación de identidades políticas colectivas’. Afirmo que la exploración del show de nuevas formulaciones de la identidad Afro-Brasileña sirve como función terapéutica para la comunidad negra de El Salvador, quienes son a menudo excluidos en un país donde ‘cuanto más blanco parezcas garantiza un mayor acceso a la ascensión social y económica’ (Sterling, 2012, 4).

Keywords:

• diaspora
• race
• public sphere
• Brazil
• Bando de Teatro Olodum
• community theatre

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank professors Maria Delgado and Paul Heritage for their valuable input; Bando de Teatro Olodum ([email protected]; bandodeteatro.blogspot.com.br) for sharing their work with me (especially Chica Carelli and Márcio Meirelles); the anonymous reviewers of this paper for their many detailed comments and insightful suggestions; and the generous friends who read early drafts of this article – Sarah Thomasson, Catriona Fallow and Anna Wilson.

Funding

The research for this article was financially supported by Queen Mary, University of London and the Society for Latin American Studies (SLAS, UK). I am grateful to both institutions for their assistance.

Notes on contributor

Michelle Nicholson-Sanz is a PhD candidate in the Department of Drama at Queen Mary, University of London. With a Masters in International Performance Research from the University of Warwick, her current research examines the staging of port cities in Latin America. She is interested in ritual as performance; intercultural and community theatre; and the re-imaginings of places through theatre and performance.

Additional information

Funding

Funding: The research for this article was financially supported by Queen Mary, University of London and the Society for Latin American Studies (SLAS, UK). I am grateful to both institutions for their assistance.