Boitatá

Oral Poetics & Folklore • pp. 1–24 • Open Access

Echoes of the Forest: Mythopoetic Structures in Northern Brazilian Oral Traditions

Dr. Mariana Vasconcelos (& Department of Anthropology, Federal University of Pará, Brazil); Prof. Julian Vance (& Centre for Oral Culture, University of Lisbon, Portugal)

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This study investigates the intricate mythopoetic structures embedded within the oral traditions of Northern Brazilian riverine communities, focusing specifically on how ancestral cosmological narratives are sustained, transformed, and transmitted across successive generations. Drawing upon extensive ethnographic fieldwork conducted along the lower Amazon basin, we analyze the performative dynamics of oral storytelling, ritual chanting, and mythical invocation. Our findings suggest that oral poetics function not merely as historical archives or aesthetic expressions, but as vital ecological cartographies that articulate human relationships with non-human agents, river spirits, and forest entities. Furthermore, we examine the rhythmic patterns, formulaic diction, and improvisational techniques employed by master storytellers (narradores tradicionais), demonstrating how traditional repertoires adapt to contemporary socio-environmental pressures while retaining their deep symbolic efficacy. The paper concludes by arguing for a renewed methodological synthesis between performance studies and environmental humanities to better understand the cognitive and communal dimensions of oral literature in Latin America.

Keywords: Oral Poetics, Folklore, Amazonian Myth, Indigenous Performance, Environmental Humanities

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Performance Studies & Cultural Studies • pp. 25–48 • Open Access

Performative Memory and Corporeal Archives in Afro-Brazilian Religious Dramaturgy

Prof. Alexandre C. Mendonça (& Institute of Performing Arts, Federal University of Bahia, Brazil)

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This article explores the intersection of corporeal memory, ritual dramaturgy, and cultural resistance within Afro-Brazilian religious practices, specifically examining Candomblé ceremonies as living archives of dislocated histories. Departing from traditional textual hermeneutics, the study employs Diana Taylor’s framework of the repertoire versus the archive to analyze how bodily gestures, drumming rhythms (toques), sacred choreographies, and ritual dressing materialize historical trauma and spiritual resilience. Through participant observation and video-ethnographic analysis of terreiros in Salvador, Bahia, we examine how the divine horse (cavalo) becomes a conduit for ancestral voices that challenge hegemonic historiographies. The research underscores the pedagogical and epistemological value of performance as a mechanism of cultural preservation, demonstrating how kinetic knowledge transmits ethical and cosmological systems that resist colonial erasures. The discussion extends to contemporary theatrical adaptations of these rituals, highlighting the tension between sacred authenticity and secular aesthetic presentation on modern Brazilian stages.

Keywords: Performance Studies, Ritual Dramaturgy, Afro-Brazilian Traditions, Corporeal Memory, Cultural Resistance

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Literature & Oral Traditions • pp. 49–72 • Open Access

From Cordel to Digital Bards: The Metamorphosis of Brazilian Popular Epic Poetry

Dr. Beatriz Silveira (& Faculty of Letters, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil); Dr. Thomas O'Connor (& Department of Romance Languages, University of Dublin, Ireland)

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Brazilian literature of cordel (literatura de cordel) has long occupied a foundational position at the crossroads of oral poetry, print culture, and popular folklore. This paper examines the contemporary evolution and digital metamorphosis of cordel poetry in the twenty-first century. As traditional street vendors and open-air markets transition into digital platforms, YouTube channels, and social media podcasts, new generations of poets (repentistas and cordelistas) are reimagining traditional rhyming meters (sextilhas and setilhas) to address global issues such as political corruption, technological alienation, and ecological crisis. Through a comparative stylistic analysis of archival print booklets from the 1960s and contemporary digital video performances, we demonstrate how the medium's defining traits—improvisation, direct audience engagement, moral commentary, and satirical wit—adapt successfully to cyber-cultural spaces. The study concludes that digital platforms have not eradicated the oral-formulaic roots of cordel, but have instead expanded its readership and transnational reach, creating a vibrant hybrid genre we designate as "cyber-cordel."

Keywords: Cordel Literature, Oral Traditions, Epic Poetry, Digital Folklore, Cultural Adaptation

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Language & Oral Poetics • pp. 73–94 • Open Access

Tonal Shifts and Semantic Resonance in Tupian Indigenous Narrative Songs

Dr. Klemens Tupi-Guarani (& Department of Indigenous Linguistics, Museu Nacional, Rio de Janeiro)

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This linguistic and poetic inquiry examines the intricate relationship between vocal inflection, pitch modulation, and semantic layering in narrative songs (purahéi) among Tupian-speaking indigenous communities in southern Amazonia. Utilizing acoustic spectrogram analysis combined with ethnographic textual translation, the study reveals how minor tonal shifts during ritual chanting generate secondary layers of meaning that remain imperceptible in spoken prose. These poetic inflections serve as mnemonic devices and emotional registers, encoding generational wisdom regarding medicinal flora, celestial cycles, and inter-tribal alliances. The author demonstrates that Tupian oral poetics rely heavily on parallelisms, lexical reduplication, and iconic sound symbolism to construct a dense verbal art form that bridges linguistics and literary aesthetics. Furthermore, the paper addresses the urgent issue of linguistic endangerment, providing transcriptions of rare ceremonial chants collected directly from elder speakers. The findings contribute to broader discussions in linguistic anthropology regarding the universal and culturally specific dimensions of verbal art in low-land South American societies.

Keywords: Indigenous Linguistics, Oral Poetics, Tupian Languages, Narrative Songs, Amazonian Folklore

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Cultural Studies & Performance • pp. 95–118 • Open Access

Carnival as Counter-Archive: Street Performance and Political Subversion in Northeast Brazil

Dr. Sofia L. Albuquerque (& Program in Cultural Studies, Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil)

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Carnival celebrations in Northeastern Brazil—specifically the manifestations of Frevo, Maracatu, and Caboclinhos in Pernambuco—represent far more than seasonal festivities; they constitute active counter-archives that challenge official narratives of national identity. This article investigates how marginalized urban groups mobilize ephemeral street performances, satirical masking, and processional choreography to articulate political dissent and historical memory. By occupying public thoroughfares with rhythmic intensity and elaborate costuming, participants enact a temporary inversion of social hierarchies, reclaiming civic spaces historically denied to subaltern populations. Drawing on Bakhtinian carnivalization theory combined with contemporary decolonial critique, the author analyzes how traditional musical groups negotiate institutional co-optation by tourism boards while preserving the radical improvisational spirit of their ancestors. The study underscores how vernacular performance operates as an indispensable site of cultural citizenship, where community trauma is metabolized into collective joy and political solidarity.

Keywords: Cultural Studies, Carnival, Street Performance, Political Subversion, Urban Folklore

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Folklore & Literature • pp. 119–140 • Open Access

Phantoms of the Sertão: Comparative Motifs in Northeastern Brazilian Legendry

Dr. Mateus R. Cavalcante (& Institute of Folklore Studies, Federal University of Ceará, Brazil)

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The semi-arid backlands (sertão) of Northeastern Brazil are extraordinarily rich in oral legendry, supernatural folklore, and cautionary ghost narratives. This paper provides a rigorous comparative motif analysis of traditional legends collected across Ceará, Paraíba, and Pernambuco over a five-year period. Utilizing Stith Thompson’s motif-index of folk literature as a comparative baseline, we examine recurring narrative archetypes such as the wandering penitent (Almas Penadas), enchanted serpents guarding subterranean treasures (Boitatá variants), and cursed bandit specters rooted in the violent history of cangaceirismo. The study explores how these supernatural entities function as psychological mechanisms for coping with historical trauma, severe droughts, and social inequality. Furthermore, the author analyzes the oral performance techniques of rural storytellers (causos tellers), demonstrating how dramatic pacing, local dialect, and spatial anchoring lend verisimilitude to fantastic accounts. The research highlights the enduring vitality of rural folklore in the digital age, noting how traditional legends migrate into online urban legend forums and regional cinema.

Keywords: Folklore, Oral Narratives, Ghost Stories, Urban Legends, Comparative Literature, Sertão

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Humanities & Oral History • pp. 141–162 • Open Access

Voices from the Margins: Oral History and the Re-writing of Subaltern Pasts in Modern Brazil

Dr. Helena M. Fontes (& Department of History, University of São Paulo, Brazil); Prof. Arthur G. Miller (& School of Humanities, Stanford University, USA)

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Mainstream historiography in Brazil has historically marginalized oral testimonies, favoring written bureaucratic archives that disproportionately represent elite perspectives. This article explores the critical methodology of oral history as a vital tool for recovering subaltern pasts, focusing on life-history interviews conducted with landless rural workers, quilombola community elders, and displaced urban residents. By analyzing the narrative structure, emotional cadence, and mnemonic omissions within these testimonies, the authors demonstrate how oral history exposes the gaps in official state archives. The study argues that listening to subaltern life stories is not merely an act of passive documentation, but a decolonial intervention that validates popular epistemology and redefines historical truth. Furthermore, the paper addresses ethical considerations surrounding collaborative archiving, informed consent, and the repatriation of recorded audio materials to the communities from which they originated. Ultimately, the research calls for an epistemological shift within the humanities toward an inclusive model of public memory.

Keywords: Oral History, Humanities, Subaltern Studies, Public Memory, Decolonial Methodology

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Interdisciplinary Research • pp. 163–185 • Open Access

Resonant Ecologies: Sound Studies and Oral Traditions in Contemporary Interdisciplinary Research

Dr. Lucas N. Bentes (& Centre for Sonic Arts & Oral Poetics, Federal University of Minas Gerais)

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Bridging the boundaries between acoustic ecology, oral literature, and performance studies, this article proposes a comprehensive methodological framework termed "resonant ecologies" for studying oral traditions in Latin America. Rather than treating oral texts as static transcriptions divorced from their acoustic environments, the author argues that oral poetics are inextricably bound to sonic topographies, environmental sounds, and acoustic architecture. Drawing upon field recordings from rural Minas Gerais and urban Rio de Janeiro, the study analyzes how storytellers and traditional singers interact with ambient noise, echo, and acoustic horizons. The research demonstrates that the meaning of oral narratives is dynamically co-produced by the sounding voice and its physical surroundings. By integrating tools from digital sound analysis with qualitative ethnography, this paper opens new avenues for interdisciplinary research in the humanities, encouraging scholars to listen critically to the sonic dimensions of cultural heritage and environmental memory.

Keywords: Sound Studies, Oral Traditions, Acoustic Ecology, Interdisciplinary Research, Performance

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Oral Poetics & Literature • pp. 1–22 • Open Access

Mythic Temporality and Performative Voice in Shamanistic Chants of Central Brazil

Dr. Eduardo Xavante (& Department of Anthropology, University of Brasília, Brazil); Prof. Sarah Jenkins (& Faculty of Humanities, Oxford University, UK)

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Shamanistic chants (adöwä) among the A'uwẽ-Xavante people of Central Brazil operate as complex verbal art forms that suspend ordinary linear time, collapsing the boundary between mythical origins and present-day communal existence. This article investigates the formal poetic structures, parallelisms, and vocabulistic keys utilized by ritual specialists during nocturnal healing ceremonies. Through detailed textual transcription and musical-poetic analysis, we examine how the shaman’s voice negotiates spiritual boundaries, communicates with animal masters, and realigns the social body of the village. The study demonstrates that oral performance in Xavante cosmology is not merely a decorative accompaniment to ritual, but the very substance through which cosmos and community are continuously regenerated. The authors contrast Western literary conceptions of static authorship with indigenous models of collective, trans-species poetic transmission, offering new methodological directions for the study of oral poetics in South American native societies.

Keywords: Oral Poetics, Shamanism, Indigenous Literature, Mythic Temporality, Central Brazil

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Folklore & Cultural Studies • pp. 23–45 • Open Access

Exile and Return: Oral Narratives of Migration and Identity in the Brazilian Diaspora

Dr. Camila R. Siqueira (& Department of Sociology, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil)

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Migration creates profound dislocations not only in geographic space but also in narrative repertoires and cultural memory. This paper investigates the oral life narratives of Brazilian immigrant communities in Southern Europe, focusing on how personal stories of displacement, labor struggles, and cultural adjustment are structured around traditional folklore motifs. Through in-depth narrative interviews, the author examines how folklore functions as a portable homeland, allowing migrants to recreate familiar social bonds in foreign urban environments. Particular attention is given to the oral transmission of foodways, jokes, musical memories, and hometown legends across generations born abroad. The study reveals that migrant oral narratives are characterized by a dual temporality: nostalgic idealization of the abandoned homeland juxtaposed with pragmatic adaptation to host societies. Ultimately, the article argues that folklore provides an essential psychological anchor for diasporic populations, transforming physical exile into a dynamic site of transnational cultural production.

Keywords: Folklore, Oral Narratives, Diaspora, Migration, Cultural Identity, Transnational Studies

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Performance Studies & Gender • pp. 46–68 • Open Access

Gender, Masking, and Subversion in Popular Festivities of the Brazilian Northeast

Dr. Larissa V. Monteiro (& Program in Gender & Performance, Federal University of Bahia, Brazil)

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Popular street festivals in Northeastern Brazil—such as the Papa-figos, Caretos, and Bumba-meu-boi performances—frequently feature elaborate gender-bending masking traditions where male performers adopt female personas or grotesque mythological characters. This article examines the performative mechanics of gender inversion within these folk traditions, evaluating how masking operates as a site of critique against patriarchal norms. Drawing on feminist performance theory and ethnographic observations from interior Maranhão and Piauí, the author analyzes how bodily posture, vocal modulation, and satirical improvisation allow performers to temporarily dismantle normative gender expectations. The study argues that these traditional festive inversions are not merely conservative safety valves releasing social tension, but active experimental laboratories where gender fluidity and counter-hegemonic subjectivities are rehearsed in public view. The paper contributes to ongoing dialogues in performance studies concerning the intersection of folklore, gender performativity, and localized resistance in Latin America.

Keywords: Performance Studies, Gender Inversion, Masking, Folklore, Northeastern Brazil, Subversion

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Language & Folklore • pp. 69–91 • Open Access

Sociolinguistic Variation and Narrative Strategies in Rural Brazilian Storytelling

Dr. Otávio N. Meireles (& Department of Linguistics, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil)

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This sociolinguistic investigation explores the intricate relationship between vernacular speech variation and oral narrative structure in traditional storytelling across rural Minas Gerais. Analyzing over thirty hours of recorded causos (traditional rural anecdotes) told by veteran narrators, the study maps out how phonetic variation, syntactic adjustments, and lexical choices are strategically deployed to heighten narrative tension, create comic relief, and characterize protagonists. The author demonstrates that rustic Brazilian Portuguese (caipira dialect) possesses sophisticated poetic devices—such as ideophones, evidential markers, and dramatic direct discourse—that standard grammars frequently overlook. By examining storytelling as a cooperative communicative event between narrator and audience, the research highlights how sociolinguistic markers reinforce local identity and community cohesion. The findings offer valuable empirical data for researchers working at the intersection of variationist sociolinguistics, oral literature, and folk speech ethnography.

Keywords: Sociolinguistics, Oral Storytelling, Rural Dialects, Folklore, Caipira Speech, Narrative Structure

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Cultural Studies & Literature • pp. 92–114 • Open Access

Archives of the Unwritten: Popular Memory and Subaltern Archives in Contemporary Latin American Literature

Dr. Gabriela S. Pires (& Institute of Literary Research, University of São Paulo, Brazil); Prof. Marcus Vinícius (& Department of Comparative Literature, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul)

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How do contemporary Latin American novelists translate oral memory and ephemeral subaltern archives into written fiction? This paper investigates the narrative strategies employed by modern Brazilian writers who incorporate folklore, oral testimonies, and unwritten cultural archives into their literary texts. Focusing on novels from the Amazonian and Northeastern regions published in the 2010s, the study explores how literature acts as an intermediary space between official historiography and popular oral tradition. The authors analyze techniques of "ventriloquism" and collaborative narrative framing, where literary authors position themselves as editors of oral lore rather than omniscient creators. By examining how folklore motifs challenge linear novelistic plots, the research demonstrates that literature can function as an emancipatory counter-archive. The article concludes that contemporary Latin American fiction continually revitalizes itself by drawing upon the inexhaustible wellspring of oral poetics and popular folklore.

Keywords: Cultural Studies, Latin American Literature, Popular Memory, Subaltern Archives, Oral Tradition

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Humanities & Oral Traditions • pp. 115–138 • Open Access

Rescuing the Voice: Digital Humanities and the Preservation of Endangered Oral Traditions

Dr. Rafael M. Arantes (& Centre for Digital Humanities, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil)

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As globalization, language shift, and environmental destruction threaten indigenous and traditional oral repertoires across Brazil, the digital humanities offer unprecedented tools for documentation and archiving. This article examines the methodological, ethical, and technical challenges involved in building digital audio-visual repositories of endangered oral traditions. Drawing on practical experiences from archival projects in the Pantanal and Amazonian regions, the author discusses best practices for collaborative digital archiving, metadata tagging, and community-managed databases. Particular emphasis is placed on the ethical imperative of data sovereignty, ensuring that recorded communities retain full ownership and control over their digitized cultural heritage. The study evaluates how web-based interactive maps, searchable audio corpora, and digital storytelling platforms can empower younger generations to reconnect with ancestral oral poetry. Ultimately, the paper argues that digital preservation must be paired with active community engagement to ensure living oral traditions survive beyond archival databases.

Keywords: Digital Humanities, Oral Traditions, Cultural Heritage, Preservation, Data Sovereignty

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Interdisciplinary Research • pp. 139–160 • Open Access

Interdisciplinary Horizons: Methodological Convergences in Oral Poetics and Performance Studies

Prof. Beatriz F. Drummond (& Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Humanities, Federal University of Pernambuco); Dr. Liam O'Neill (& School of Arts & Performance, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland)

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This concluding article of Volume 4 reflects upon the methodological trajectories, theoretical convergences, and future horizons of interdisciplinary research in oral poetics and performance studies. Tracing the historical separation between literary textual analysis, folklore studies, and ethnographic performance research, the authors argue for a robust, integrated methodology that treats oral poetry as simultaneously verbal, kinetic, acoustic, and social. By synthesizing insights from ethnopoetics, dialogic criticism, and somatic anthropology, the paper outlines a comprehensive framework for analyzing oral expressive culture across diverse global contexts. The discussion emphasizes that contemporary challenges—ranging from environmental crisis to digital globalization—require scholars to cross traditional academic boundaries and engage in collaborative research with tradition-bearers. Ultimately, this article reaffirms the vital intellectual mission of the journal Boitatá in fostering rigorous, interdisciplinary dialogue across the humanities and social sciences.

Keywords: Interdisciplinary Research, Oral Poetics, Performance Studies, Ethnopoetics, Methodology

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