{"id":1219,"date":"2015-10-29T19:57:25","date_gmt":"2015-10-30T00:57:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/?p=1219"},"modified":"2019-07-29T21:12:39","modified_gmt":"2019-07-30T02:12:39","slug":"back-in-the-field-again-the-second-phase-of-our-project-on-women-in-maranhao-popular-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/?p=1219","title":{"rendered":"Back in the field again: The second phase of our project on women in Maranhao popular culture"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\u00a0\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In an earlier post I described the Morte<\/em> of Bumba-meu-boi de Axixa<\/em>. This was actually our first time in the field again to document the festival (see earlier post).<\/p>\n

And we are finally back on the road again with our project of interviewing members of the Bumba-meu-boi<\/em>.\u00a0 After weeks of organizing and scheduling, writing questionnaires and charging batteries, and worrying about with the practical things of life in Brazil, we have begun interviewing and photographing again.<\/p>\n

Our first round of interviews was in 2008 when we first met many of the women we are now visiting in this second phase. There are more women leaders now, in part due to the passing of several male patriarchs of the tradition and their having been replaced by wives, partners or daughters.<\/p>\n

This is a major change from the male-centered heritage culture and we wanted to learn from the women how it happened, how they cope, what sort of challenges they find, and what discrimination they may feel for reasons of gender, race or class.<\/p>\n

We are deeply indebted to them for their generosity and candor in talking with us.<\/p>\n

This first post shows our interviews with two women whom we have gotten to know over the years, Nadir Cruz of Bumba-meu-boi da Floresta<\/em> (also known as Boi de Apolonio<\/em>) and Regina Claudia dos Santos of Bumba-meu-boi de Liberdade<\/em> (also known as Boi de Leonardo<\/em>).\u00a0 Both groups were led by iconic leaders of cultura popular<\/em> and the groups still honor their names.<\/p>\n

It happens that both groups are in the neighborhood of Liberdade, but they are of differing sotaques of rhythmic styles \u2014 the more African Zabumba style and the Baixada style with its Cazumbas and exotic creatures.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

$\"IMG_2432\"$ <\/a>This is part of our normal working set-up.\u00a0 Simone handles the video and interviewing, and I do the portraits and still photos of the headquarters, costumes, or whatever else is going on at the time.\u00a0 Usually these are busy places with young people\u2019s programs, neighbors stopping in, and the normal everyday business of these women who are leaders of their groups and powerful, charismatic figures in their communities.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Regina Claudia and Boi de Liberdade (Zabumba sotaque or rhythmic style)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Below is an important corner of the headquarters (sede<\/em>) of the group.\u00a0 Every group we have visited has similar space where they display their ceremonial ox figures (the \u201cbois\u201d) and have an altar where saints and other entities are kept.<\/p>\n

\"DM4A5831\" — This is the headquarters of one of the groups, Bumba-meu-boi de Liberdade<\/em>,where we are working and interviewing. The poster at the left shows Leonardo, the former leader of the group. The boi\/ox<\/em> is in the center with the group\u2019s name Liberdade<\/em> and in the left center of the ox is a likeness of Leonardo. The altar i the background is common for these groups, who place a mixture of saints and sometimes other entities in the lighted recess. Saint John and Saint Benedict (the black saint) are usually prominent.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
$\"DM4A5863\"$ <\/a>
Boi de Liberdade is in the Zabumba tradition which emphasizes African-style frame drums and the larger \u201czabumba\u201d below in the center.\u00a0 The taller drum on the left is used in the women\u2019s dance, Tambor da Crioula (see photo below).\u00a0 The costumes are the \u201cribboned cowhands\u201d (caboclos da fita) that play a major role in the celebration.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
$\"DM4A5877\"$ <\/a>
Costumes with Tambor da Crioula drums<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The tall drums are used by the male percussionists who accompany the women\u2019s dance *Tambor da Crioula<\/em>.\u00a0 The three-drum percussion set is virtually the same as used in African-Brazilian spiritual houses and are often played by the same people.<\/p>\n*
By tradition women did not participate in the Bumba-meu-boi but in the allied Tambor da Crioula group.\u00a0 This is changing, but men are still limited to percussion in the Tambor da Crioula dance<\/p>\n
*\u00a0<\/p>\n*
*\u00a0<\/p>\n*
$\"DM4A5936\"$ <\/a>
Regina Claudia at the headquarters of Boi de Liberdade. The boi\/ox on the left is embroidered with the group\u2019s name.\u00a0 The traditional religious alcove is in the background<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
$\"IMG_2402\"$ <\/a>
The young woman on the right is a relative of Claudia Regina.\u00a0 She and her friend were just coming home from school and looking in the front window to see what we were doing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
$\"DM4A5961\"$ <\/a>
Claudia Regina in front of the vaqueiro\/caboclo da fita costumes of her group.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
**Boi da Floresta (Baixada sotaque, or rhythmic style)<\/strong><\/p>\n**
**\u00a0<\/p>\n**
$\"IMG_2110\"$ <\/a>
This is the altar\/alcove in the headquarters of Boi de Floresta. The alcove contains a variety of saints ad other entities, faced from the front by two bois<\/em> (the ox center and left) and a burrinho<\/em> (small donkey figure) a right. We have photographed this room many times \u2014 most recently with the UWM Study Abroad class of June 2015.\u00a0 At that time UWM students had dance classes in the room, and helped regular members in embroidering costumes (see posts from the Study Abroad class in blog from June 2015)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
$\"IMG_2136\"$ <\/a>
I believe this is one of the new costumes that were partially embroidered by UWM students in June (see earlier posts). This is a Cazumba, a mythical creature of the forest who is an important figure in the Baixada style of the Bumba-meu-boi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
$\"DM4A5772\"$ <\/a>
Here Simone is interviewing\/filming Nadir Cruz, one of our oldest friends in Maranhao. Nadir was largely responsible for Bumba-meu-boi da Floresta (also known as Boi de Apolonio) until her husband Apolonio died in june 2015. At the time of the interview she was making the transition to being the leader of the group.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
$\"DM4A5818\"$ <\/a>Our friend Nadir Cruz, in the headquarters of Boi da Floresta<\/em>, bairro<\/em> of *Liberdade<\/em>, Sao Luis, Maranhao. Behind here on the table are the featurered head pieces worn by the female dancers (called \u201cindias\u201dor\u00a0 tapuias).<\/p>\n*
Previous blog posts for June, 2015 include photos and films of dance classes in this space.\u00a0 If you scroll the blog back to the June posts, there is also film of the \u201cbaptism\u201d (batizado<\/em>) of the boi\/ox that occurs on the eve of St. John\u2019s day, June 24\/25.\u00a0 Sao Joao is the patron saint of the Bumba-meu-boi festival and is usually shown as a child with a lamb.<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 In an earlier post I described the Morte of Bumba-meu-boi de Axixa. This was actually our first time in the field again to document the festival (see earlier post). And we are finally back on the road again with our project of interviewing members of the Bumba-meu-boi.\u00a0 After weeks of organizing and scheduling, … Continue reading Back in the field again: The second phase of our project on women in Maranhao popular culture<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-introduction-research-northeast-brazil"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1219"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1236,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1219\/revisions\/1236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

This is the headquarters of one of the groups, Bumba-meu-boi de Liberdade<\/em>,where we are working and interviewing. The poster at the left shows Leonardo, the former leader of the group. The boi\/ox<\/em> is in the center with the group\u2019s name Liberdade<\/em> and in the left center of the ox is a likeness of Leonardo. The altar i the background is common for these groups, who place a mixture of saints and sometimes other entities in the lighted recess. Saint John and Saint Benedict (the black saint) are usually prominent.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
$\"DM4A5863\"$ <\/a>
Boi de Liberdade is in the Zabumba tradition which emphasizes African-style frame drums and the larger \u201czabumba\u201d below in the center.\u00a0 The taller drum on the left is used in the women\u2019s dance, Tambor da Crioula (see photo below).\u00a0 The costumes are the \u201cribboned cowhands\u201d (caboclos da fita) that play a major role in the celebration.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
$\"DM4A5877\"$ <\/a>
Costumes with Tambor da Crioula drums<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The tall drums are used by the male percussionists who accompany the women\u2019s dance *Tambor da Crioula<\/em>.\u00a0 The three-drum percussion set is virtually the same as used in African-Brazilian spiritual houses and are often played by the same people.<\/p>\n*
By tradition women did not participate in the Bumba-meu-boi but in the allied Tambor da Crioula group.\u00a0 This is changing, but men are still limited to percussion in the Tambor da Crioula dance<\/p>\n
*\u00a0<\/p>\n*
*\u00a0<\/p>\n*
$\"DM4A5936\"$ <\/a>
Regina Claudia at the headquarters of Boi de Liberdade. The boi\/ox on the left is embroidered with the group\u2019s name.\u00a0 The traditional religious alcove is in the background<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
$\"IMG_2402\"$ <\/a>
The young woman on the right is a relative of Claudia Regina.\u00a0 She and her friend were just coming home from school and looking in the front window to see what we were doing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
$\"DM4A5961\"$ <\/a>
Claudia Regina in front of the vaqueiro\/caboclo da fita costumes of her group.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
**Boi da Floresta (Baixada sotaque, or rhythmic style)<\/strong><\/p>\n**
**\u00a0<\/p>\n**
$\"IMG_2110\"$ <\/a>
This is the altar\/alcove in the headquarters of Boi de Floresta. The alcove contains a variety of saints ad other entities, faced from the front by two bois<\/em> (the ox center and left) and a burrinho<\/em> (small donkey figure) a right. We have photographed this room many times \u2014 most recently with the UWM Study Abroad class of June 2015.\u00a0 At that time UWM students had dance classes in the room, and helped regular members in embroidering costumes (see posts from the Study Abroad class in blog from June 2015)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
$\"IMG_2136\"$ <\/a>
I believe this is one of the new costumes that were partially embroidered by UWM students in June (see earlier posts). This is a Cazumba, a mythical creature of the forest who is an important figure in the Baixada style of the Bumba-meu-boi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
$\"DM4A5772\"$ <\/a>
Here Simone is interviewing\/filming Nadir Cruz, one of our oldest friends in Maranhao. Nadir was largely responsible for Bumba-meu-boi da Floresta (also known as Boi de Apolonio) until her husband Apolonio died in june 2015. At the time of the interview she was making the transition to being the leader of the group.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
$\"DM4A5818\"$ <\/a>Our friend Nadir Cruz, in the headquarters of Boi da Floresta<\/em>, bairro<\/em> of *Liberdade<\/em>, Sao Luis, Maranhao. Behind here on the table are the featurered head pieces worn by the female dancers (called \u201cindias\u201dor\u00a0 tapuias).<\/p>\n*
Previous blog posts for June, 2015 include photos and films of dance classes in this space.\u00a0 If you scroll the blog back to the June posts, there is also film of the \u201cbaptism\u201d (batizado<\/em>) of the boi\/ox that occurs on the eve of St. John\u2019s day, June 24\/25.\u00a0 Sao Joao is the patron saint of the Bumba-meu-boi festival and is usually shown as a child with a lamb.<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 In an earlier post I described the Morte of Bumba-meu-boi de Axixa. This was actually our first time in the field again to document the festival (see earlier post). And we are finally back on the road again with our project of interviewing members of the Bumba-meu-boi.\u00a0 After weeks of organizing and scheduling, … Continue reading Back in the field again: The second phase of our project on women in Maranhao popular culture<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-introduction-research-northeast-brazil"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1219"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1236,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1219\/revisions\/1236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}