Breaking the silence: the legacy of slavery and its transforming power in Brazilian popular culture

Abstract

Based on ethnography, this paper analyzes the notion of captivity and its centrality to the practitioners of ‘

congada’, artistic manifestation of a religious nature, which is part of genuinely black and Brazilian traditions. It stresses that ‘Congada’ breaks the silence about the slavery past in a singular way because it allows finding in this traumatic experience valuation elements of blacks and slaves’ descendants, giving it, if not a place of honor, at least of respect in the Brazilian historical scene . The conclusion points to the fact that ‘congada’ is part of an intangible cultural heritage of slavery, which carries a potential to challenge social inequalities.