Mulheres, culturas populares e política pública: um estudo etnográfico e interseccional junto a mestras do Registro do Patrimônio Vivo de Alagoas (RPV/AL)

Abstract

Considering the heterogeneities present in the the trajectories of the mestras registered by the Living Heritage Record from Alagoas (Registro do Patrimônio Vivo, RPV/AL) there are several points in common. These aspects are connected to social conditions experienced by non White women in a broader sense. Origins in the rural parts of the state; migration to the peripheral zones of the capital; low formal education levels; itineraries that are characterized by informal labor; activities that are not acknowledged and that are conducted in precarious conditions, these are all situations present in the narratives of many of these mestras. Besides, these women are formally recognized by the State by the RPV/AL, a public cultural policy operating since 2004, and that aims to stimulate the continuity and the transmission of the knowledge and techniques of the experts (mestres) in popular and traditional cultures. This dissertation focuses on the narratives from these women analyzing the asymmetries present in this public policy. It also discusses the processes of hierarchization of culture present in the RPV, and the configurations of the relationships between the mestras and the public sphere. Further, I reflect about the role of ethnography, in particular its potential contribution to the studies about heritage and culture. This is important when we take in count the predominance of a folkloric bias in the governmental actions towards popular cultures, a bias that is also perpetuated in the academic productions of many intellectuals from Alagoas about the black population. At the same time, the dissertation discusses how the concept of intersectionality, a theoretical and methodological tool originated in epistemologies that are marginal to the academia, possibilities us to perceive how issues concerning race, gender and class are present in the studies about popular cultures.