Abstract:
This dissertation investigates the MC Battles in Salvador as spaces of
critical racial literacy and performances of Blackness by Afro-Brazilian youth from
Salvador. The research seeks to understand how these young people produce,
negotiate, and circulate signs of Blackness, gender, and sexuality in these cultural
encounters.
The theoretical framework draws on Aparecida de Jesus Ferreira’s
formulations on critical racial literacy, Ana Lúcia Silva Souza’s concept of
literacies of re-existence, and Nilma Lino Gomes’ notion of the Black social
movement as an educational agent. It also dialogues with the field of Black
performance studies, especially Leda Maria Martins’ contributions, through the
notions of oraliture, spiral time performance, crossroads, and ancestry. The works
of Osmundo Pinho on re-Africanization and the Black world, as well as Samuel
Floyd Jr.'s studies on Black music in the diaspora, also guided the analyses.
The methodology was based on ethnography, with participant observation
in major MC battles in the city, such as Batalha da Lord, Brabas, Bruxas, Aruanda,
3º Round, CH, and UFBA. Digital mapping through social media, analysis of
audiovisual records available on YouTube, transcription and analysis of freestyle
rhymes, and semi-structured interviews with MCs, judges, organizers, and
audience members were conducted.
The results indicate that the MC Battles are spaces of symbolic dispute,
identity negotiation, and political formation, where freestyle rap acts as a central
device, articulated with other expressive forms such as fashion, body language,
and the occupation of urban space. The analysis highlighted that freestyle, as a
Black performative practice, articulates historicities, ancestries, and re-
Africanization processes, producing a scene that re-signifies the social conditions
experienced by Black youth in the city.
