Na cadência da Império: relatos etnográficos da Império do Samba de Ouro, Penalva

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to reflect upon samba in Maranhão through the lens of Império do Samba school, from the Ouro village in Penalva. This research aims to understand the processes of resignification, adaptation, and symbolic dispute surrounding samba as a cultural artifact, which, despite being elevated to the status of a national symbol, acquires distinct inflections in regional contexts, such as the Maranhão countryside. The following question is: how does Império do Samba produce and sustain samba as a pratice of Maranhão’s popular culture in the face of the symbolic disputes and hierarchies present in the state’s cultural field. The work is dedicated to an ethnographic description and critical analysis of Império do Samba, observing how this collective territorializes samba, articulates local culture, collective memory, and identity, and challenges hegemonic narratives that have historically marginalized Black and rural popular expressions in favor of urban and centralized models. The analyzed data were obtained through participant observation within Império do Samba, as well as the author’s experience as a volunteer researcher during the development of the National Inventory of Cultural References for Maranhão's Carnival Batucadas and Samba. Grounded in the conception that popular culture is not an innate or spontaneous expression of a "people," but rather the result of complex political and symbolic mediations, this research operates on the hypothesis that the presence of samba in peripheral contexts is not a reflection of cultural homogenization. Instead, it represents a dense and situated reterritorialization of plural meanings, tensioning the aesthetic and symbolic centralization of currently hegemonic Carnival models. This research is anchored in interpretive anthropology and cultural studies, articulating the categories of popular culture, identity, and tradition. Based on fieldwork, participant observation, and interviews with school members, the study highlights how samba functions in peripheral contexts as a practice of resistance, memory, and the production of local identity. Império do Samba reveals a unique cultural experience that reinterprets samba in light of local dynamics, in dialogue with other manifestations of so-called Maranhão popular culture, such as Tambor de Mina and Cura.