Black Culture and Resistance: Art and Religion.

Zeca Ligiéro is an author, director, performing artist and has a PhD from New York University. In Brazil, he is the director of the “Instituto Hemisférico de Performance e Política”, which has its headquarters in New York. He coordinates the “Núcleo de Estudos das Performances Afro-Ameríndias” (NEPAA) and is the curator of “Acervo Augusto Boal“ at the UNIRIO, where he also has a professorship. In addition, he has also directed numerous pieces in Brazil. In the USA, he directed “The Third Bank of the River” by Guimarães Rosa, which he also adapted for theater and “Elegba Crossings, a Journey”.

In Columbia, he directed “Noticias de las cosas passadas”, a piece based on the work of Augusto Boal. He has also published books in Portuguese, English and Spanish, among them “Divine Inspiration from Benin to Bahia“ (USA), “Iniciación al Candomblé” (Columbia), “Malandro Divino, a vida e a lenda de Zé Pelintra, personagem mítico da Lapa carioca” (Brazil) and “Carmen Miranda, uma performance afro-brasileira”.

This lecture focuses on the diversity of Afro-Brazilian performative approaches from an anthropological perspective.

Various cultural and artistic activities will be discussed, as well as the reassessment of African practices in contemporary Brazilian society. Religion, dance, Capoeira, theater, performing arts as well as “futebol arte negro” are regarded as aesthetic experiences and confirmations of identity. The lecture introduces traditional elements of Afro-Brazilian cultures, that are inspired and guided by performative practices and have established a new paradigm for studies on Afro-Brazilian performativity on the basis of close ties between art, social life and religiosity.

Social-Ethnic Tensions and Assimilation in 20th Century Brazil.

Wlamyra Albuquerque.Doctorate in social cultural history from UNICAMP. Professor at the Institute for History at the Universidade Federal da Bahia. Author of several books including “Uma história da Cultura Afro-brasileira”, which was awarded the Jabuti-paradidático Prize in 2010.

This lecture seeks to provide a short cultural analysis of the path that the Afro-Brazilian population has taken in the 20th century. The goal is to give a historical review of the cultural dynamics, in which the black population of Brazil played a leading role over the last century. This will develop an understanding for this era, as a reflection of the tensions and social movements between people from different ethnic backgrounds in Brazil. The lecture wishes to reflect on the establishment of concepts, such as “cultural nacional”, “cultura popular” and “cultura negra” in 20th century Brazil.