Black struggles in largo da Banana

Abstract

In São Paulo’s early samba accounts, largo da Banana stands for a bygone and non-modern black territory of resistance. By confronting such symbolic construction with sources that validated it, I argue that it was a place of less unidimensional struggles, long after the origin of samba. I inquire race, class, and culture premises entangled in debates about authenticity, black culture, and race relations in mis-sp’s archive and scholarly studies. I analyze musicians’ discourses on the “cradle” of samba, considering professional ambitions and investments on prestige and respectability that, although countered the researchers’ expectations, were crucial to the meanings those black men gave to their history.

Keywords:
Largo da Banana; Black territory; Coleção Carnaval Paulistano (mis-sp); Race relations in São Paulo