The Jongo and the New Afro-Brazilian Performativity
The jongo is an Afro-Brazilian dance created by ancient slaves in large farms in Brazil where coffee was grown in the nineteenth century. During the twentieth century, urbanization and migration to major cities in Brazil have almost been banished. It would happen only in small cities that have experienced economic decline after the abolition of slavery and the decline of the coffee culture. Nowadays, these Afro-Brazilian communities use the jongo to build an identity and a memory in the context of cultural affirmation. This practice attracts the interest and the support of students and researchers because it legitimates the identities (Black and Brazilian) of this population and its « understandings » of history and slavery, while facilitating its access to private and governmental funds. The jongo is an illustration of the new Afro-Brazilian performativity in the context of the transnationalization of the Black movement and of its former and new claims.