(Re)Inventions of the Body in the Irreducible Liminarity of Samba: the Cuíca theory

Abstract

This article aims to think about the specificities of the gender performativities of dissident bodies that practice samba performances in Rio de Janeiro. A reflection on social reinventions in samba schools is proposed; and about how the potential for creation intrinsic to samba, understood in Benjaminian terms as its aura, needs to be resumed in contemporary times. Based on the concepts proposed by Walter Mignolo, of liminal thought and irreducible colonial difference, of cruzo, intersections of Simas and Rufino, the interwovens between queer studies and local contexts of race and class are discussed. Finally, a proposal is elaborated to think about the samba dissident bodies from what we call the Cuíca theory.