Artigo Acesso aberto Revisado por pares

Musical Boundary-Work: Ethnomusicology, Symbolic Boundary Studies, and Music in the Afro-Gaucho Religious Community of Southern Brazil

2014; University of Illinois Press; Volume: 58; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.5406/ethnomusicology.58.1.0083

ISSN

2156-7417

Autores

Marc Gidal,

Tópico(s)

Diverse Musicological Studies

Resumo

Abstract This article combines ethnomusicology and symbolic boundary theory to explain musical boundary-work: the creation, interpretation, and use of music to reinforce, bridge, or reshape symbolic boundaries for social, political, spiritual, or other purposes. The multi-faith and multi-ethnic Afrogaucho religious community of metropolitan Porto Alegre, in southern Brazil, serves as the case study, because practitioners use musical liturgy to combine and segregate the Batuque, Umbanda, and Quimbanda religions and their denominations. This essay introduces the community, highlighting ethnoracial identity politics, and describes processes of musical boundary-work within the community, focusing on local concepts of crossing and purity.

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