Cocos de roda em Igarassu: saberes, práticas e resistências presentes na cultura popular

Abstract

Located in the field of cultural studies, from a sociological point of view, this research addresses the manifestation of Coco de Roda in the municipality of Igarassu. Tangenting the aspects of identity and memory, this work aims to identify which practices and knowledge of the makers of coco de roda in Igarassu that contribute to the construction of cultural identities that resist the domination of mass culture, the cultural industry and the impositions of local political power. In the theoretical framework, culture is understood as a system of symbols (Geertz, 1978) constructed through the socialization process, that is, it is about the customs, habits, codes and beliefs that are learned by the subjects from their insertion in the society. society (Laraia, 2020). Even to understand culture, it is necessary to understand it as a social and material process, so that questions related to the economy are not separated from culture, composing an inseparable totality. From this perspective, the meaning of culture is closely connected to social conflicts, political issues and the entire framework of power relations present in societies (Canclini, 1983; Williams, 2011). And popular culture as referring to the traditions, customs, uses and memories of the popular classes (Bosi, 2000), where conflict also prevails and a threshold is established between agency and structure, the structure of domination produced by a legitimizing identity and the agency produced by an identity of resistance (Castells, 1999). In this sense, we understand popular culture as tenacious and capable of resisting and building counter-hegemonic alternatives (Gramsci, 1995; Thompson, 1998). Regarding the methodology, we used the qualitative method, having symbolic interactionism as a theoretical-methodological framework. For data collection, direct and participant observation techniques and semi-structured interviews were used. As an analysis technique, content analysis was used. The research results showed that the cultural groups of coco de roda suffer from widespread devaluation by the government, but that they have been resisting and contributing to the formation of participatory, solidary and counter-hegemonic identities. Therefore, the social impact of this research lies in revealing these realities, promoting visibility for the theme and strengthening the construction of other works and public policies that value popular culture as part of the development of a human, integrated and diverse society.