Volume 6 (2021) Archive
Featuring peer-reviewed research across Oral Poetics, Literature, Folklore, Cultural Studies, Language, and Performance Studies. Select an issue below to explore full articles, abstracts, keywords, and author affiliations.
Volume 6, Issue 1 (2021)
Special thematic focus on Indigenous Orality, Folklore Traditions, and Modern Performance Studies.
Echoes of the Ancestral Voice: Mythic Structures in Northern Amazonian Chant Narratives
Dr. Helena Vasconcelos (& Department of Comparative Literature, Federal University of Amazonas, Brazil)
Abstract
This study investigates the intricate mythic structures embedded within the ceremonial chant narratives of indigenous communities in the Northern Amazon basin. Through an interdisciplinary framework combining oral poetics, structural anthropology, and performance ethnography, we examine how rhythm, vocal modulation, and cyclical repetition function as mnemonic devices that preserve ecological cosmology and historical memory. The research analyzes primary field recordings collected over three years, demonstrating that these oral texts operate not merely as folklore artifacts, but as living legal and spiritual constitutions for their respective societies. Furthermore, the paper addresses the epistemological challenges of translating oral performance into written transcription without losing the emotive and performative nuances inherent in live delivery. Our findings suggest that Amazonian chant narratives exhibit complex poetic devices, including parallelisms, polyphonic vocal layering, and spatialized metaphors that mirror the dense biodiversity of the rainforest environment itself. Ultimately, this article advocates for a paradigm shift in how academic institutions validate oral archives, arguing for equal standing alongside canonical written literatures in global humanities scholarship.
The Body as Archive: Somatic Memory and Resistance in Northeastern Cordel Literature Performances
Prof. Marcus Vinícius Ribeiro & Dr. Sofia Mendes (& Centre for Performance and Cultural Studies, University of Pernambuco, Recife)
Abstract
Northeastern Brazilian *Literatura de Cordel* is traditionally examined through its printed pamphlet format, woodcut illustrations, and rhymed metrical verses. However, this paper argues that the true vitality of Cordel resides in its live performative delivery (*cantoria* and recitation markets). By applying somatic performance theory to contemporary street recitals in fairs across Pernambuco and Ceará, we investigate how performers utilize gesture, vocal cadence, facial micro-expressions, and audience call-and-response dynamics to embody historical resistance. The authors document how traveling poets act as living archives, channeling socio-political dissent, agrarian struggles, and regional folklore through corporeal techniques passed down through generations. Our methodological approach combines video-ethnographic tracking of performance gestures with textual analysis of improvised stanzas. The findings reveal that physical embodiment transforms static printed texts into dynamic sites of political agency and communal solidarity. Furthermore, we explore how digital archiving initiatives are transforming the transmission of Cordel, noting tensions between commercial preservation and authentic street performance. This study contributes to broader theoretical discussions surrounding bodily archives, popular print culture, and the democratization of literature in Latin America.
Metamorphoses of the Trickster: Comparative Motifs in Afro-Brazilian and Iberian Folk Tales
Dr. Beatriz Laranjeira & Prof. Julian Thorne (& Institute of World Literatures, University of Coimbra, Portugal)
Abstract
The trickster figure represents one of the most resilient and versatile archetypes in global folklore. This comparative study examines the syncretic evolution of trickster motifs—specifically focusing on the transatlantic dialogues between West African Yoruba-derived figures (such as Exu and Eshu-Elegba) and Iberian picaresque folklore traditions transplanted to Brazil during the colonial era. By analyzing structural tale-types cataloged in international indexes alongside oral transcripts collected from rural communities in Minas Gerais and Bahia, we trace how marginalized populations repurposed European picaresque tropes to encode survival strategies, subvert authority, and negotiate cultural hybridity. The investigation highlights narrative strategies such as linguistic double-entendre, shape-shifting, boundary-crossing, and moral ambiguity. Our comparative textual analysis demonstrates that while Iberian models contributed structural scaffolding, the animating spirit, subversive ethos, and metaphysical weight of the Brazilian trickster derive primarily from Yoruba cosmological frameworks. This paper contributes to postcolonial literary theory by reframing folklore not as static relics of the past, but as dynamic, adaptive tactical toolkits forged in the crucible of transatlantic cultural encounters.
Multilingual Landscapes in Borderland Communities: Code-Switching and Oral Poetics in the Southern Cone
Dr. Gabriel Furtado & Prof. Camila Miller (& School of Modern Languages, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina)
Abstract
Borderland regions are vibrant linguistic ecosystems where national boundaries blur and oral communication assumes highly innovative poetic forms. This article examines the sociolinguistic and poetic dimensions of code-switching along the Brazil-Argentina-Uruguay triple frontier, focusing specifically on spoken *Portunhol* and regional vernacular poetry. Through extensive sociolinguistic interviews, participant observation, and acoustic analysis of oral performance poetry recited in community markets and radio programs, we demonstrate that code-switching is not merely a sign of linguistic interference, but a sophisticated aesthetic resource. Border poets exploit the grammatical and lexical friction between Portuguese and Spanish to create double-voiced irony, rhythmic syncopation, and unique metaphors unavailable in either monolingual standard. The study analyzes transcribed oral poems, highlighting structural markers of identity construction, historical memory, and transnational solidarity among border residents. Furthermore, the paper addresses how state educational policies historically marginalized border vernaculars, contrasting this with contemporary grassroots movements seeking to validate borderlands oral poetics as legitimate high literature. Our findings advocate for a pluricentric approach to Hispanic and Lusophone literary studies that fully incorporates borderland oral creativity.
Singing the Land: Eco-Poetics and Environmental Memory in Quilombola Oral Epics
Dr. Teresa de Sousa & Prof. Rodrigo Antunes (& Department of Cultural Anthropology, Federal University of Bahia, Salvador)
Abstract
Quilombola communities—historical settlements founded by escaped enslaved Africans in Brazil—harbor deep oral traditions that serve as repositories of ecological knowledge and resistance history. This research explores the emergent field of eco-poetics through the oral epics, work songs, and sacred hymns preserved in Quilombo territories across the hinterlands of Bahia. By analyzing performance transcripts and environmental oral histories, we investigate how community elders encode botanical taxonomies, hydrological cycles, and sustainable land management practices within poetic verse. These oral texts function simultaneously as mnemonic calendars, spiritual invocations, and territorial charters asserting ancestral property rights against modern agricultural encroachment. The study highlights how rhythmic work songs regulate collective agrarian labor while reinforcing spiritual bonds between community members and their ancestral soil. Furthermore, we examine the pedagogical transmission of these oral genres to younger generations facing pressures of rural-urban migration. Our findings underscore that Quilombola oral epics offer invaluable alternative epistemologies for addressing contemporary ecological crises, positioning traditional oral poetics as a vital pillar of environmental humanities research in Latin America.
From Page to Stage and Digital Screen: Transmedial Re-enactments of Classical Oral Narratives
Dr. Lucas C. Albuquerque & Prof. Mariana Nogueira (& Department of Media and Literary Studies, University of São Paulo, Brazil)
Abstract
The digital turn has fundamentally altered how traditional oral narratives are performed, archived, and recirculated globally. This paper investigates transmedial re-enactments of classical Brazilian oral mythologies—such as the legends of Boitatá, Cuca, and Saci—across contemporary theatrical stages, graphic novels, and interactive digital media platforms. Through a media-archaeological and literary critique, we examine how storytelling techniques originally rooted in oral communal transmission adapt to new technological affordances like hypermedia, virtual reality storytelling, and participatory web platforms. We analyze three major contemporary art projects that translate folk narratives into immersive digital experiences, evaluating how audience interactivity redefines the traditional boundary between passive listener and active co-creator. The study explores tensions between the commodification of folklore in digital media industries and the grassroots reclamation of indigenous and popular mythology by independent digital creators. Our findings suggest that transmedial adaptation does not dilute oral poetics; rather, it reactivates ancient mythic structures for hyperconnected digital audiences, ensuring their continued cultural relevance in the twenty-first century.
Rhymes of Resistance: Hip-Hop Cyphers as Modern Urban Oral Poetics in São Paulo
Prof. Alexandre Santos & Dr. Juliana Prates (& Centre for Urban Youth Culture, Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo)
Abstract
While traditional oral poetics is frequently associated with rural folklore or indigenous chant, contemporary urban centers generate vibrant new oral art forms rooted in improvisation and collective performance. This article examines urban hip-hop cyphers and freestyle rap battles in the peripheral neighborhoods of São Paulo as direct descendants of ancient improvisational oral poetic traditions such as the Iberian *repentismo* and Afro-Brazilian verbal duels. Through ethnographic fieldwork, lyrical analysis, and audio-visual documentation of street cyphers, we investigate how young urban poets employ complex rhyme schemes, internal multi-syllabic rhymes, historical allusion, and rapid metaphorical association to articulate sociopolitical critiques of racial inequality, police brutality, and spatial segregation. The study argues that freestyle rap battles function as modern communal therapeutic spaces and rigorous intellectual arenas where linguistic dexterity translates directly into social capital and political resistance. We demonstrate structural continuities between traditional rural bards (*repentistas*) and modern urban emcees (*MC's*), highlighting how both traditions rely on collective circle dynamics, call-and-response validation, and mnemonic improvisation under pressure. This research bridges folkloric studies and urban cultural sociology, expanding the academic definition of oral poetics to encompass contemporary metropolitan youth subcultures.
Volume 6, Issue 2 (2021)
Focus on Narrative Folklore, Linguistic Landscapes, Orality in Literature, and Interdisciplinary Humanities.
Whispers of the Forest Spirits: Animism and Narrative Structures in Andean Oral Legends
Dr. Mateo Quispe & Prof. Elena Rostova (& Institute of Andean Oral History, Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, Bolivia)
Abstract
Andean oral traditions are deeply anchored in an animate landscape where mountains (*Apus*), rivers, and weather phenomena possess consciousness, moral agency, and communicative capacity. This study explores the narrative structures of oral legends recorded in Quechua and Aymara indigenous communities across the high Andean plateau and cloud forests of Bolivia. Through folkloristic motif analysis and phenomenological oral criticism, we examine how these narratives construct ecocentric ethics that regulate human interaction with fragile mountain ecosystems. The research analyzes recurring narrative tropes such as reciprocal pacts between humans and mountain deities, supernatural punishments for ecological hubris, and metamorphic transformations of humans into geological formations. Our transcriptions reveal sophisticated rhetorical devices, including evidential suffixes in Quechua that grammatically encode the speaker's experiential verification of the supernatural event. Furthermore, we investigate how contemporary storytelling elders adapt these ancient legends to address modern anxieties surrounding climate change and mining exploitation. This paper contributes to folkloristics and environmental humanities by demonstrating how indigenous animist narratives provide vital philosophical frameworks for ecological stewardship and biocultural preservation in South America.
The Polyphonic Stage: Dialogism and Orality in Contemporary Latin American Experimental Theatre
Dr. Clara Sampaio & Prof. Henri Mercier (& Department of Dramatic Arts, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro)
Abstract
Experimental theatre in contemporary Latin America has increasingly turned to the dynamics of oral storytelling and Bakhtinian dialogism to dismantle rigid theatrical hierarchies and engage audiences in communal catharsis. This article examines three experimental theatre productions from Brazil, Argentina, and Chile that integrate traditional oral performance techniques—such as the storyteller (*contador de causos*), choral chanting, and spontaneous audience address—into avant-garde dramatic texts. Drawing on performance theory and literary dialogism, we analyze how directors and playwrights use polyphonic vocal arrangements and colloquial linguistic registers to stage marginalized socio-political narratives that are typically excluded from canonical dramatic literature. The investigation explores how the physical presence of the actor as a living narrator collapses the traditional fourth wall, transforming the theatrical auditorium into a traditional circle of oral storytelling. Our analysis demonstrates that these productions achieve a powerful synthesis of written dramatic craft and oral improvisational energy, offering new pathways for political engagement and cultural reflection through the performing arts.
Lexical Borrowing and Cultural Hybridity: Africanisms in Brazilian Portuguese Popular Oral Poetry
Dr. Amadou Diallo & Prof. Beatriz Laranjeira (& Department of Linguistics, Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife)
Abstract
The profound linguistic impact of African languages on Brazilian Portuguese is nowhere more evident than in popular oral poetry, musical lyrics, and ritual chanting. This lexicographical and poetic study examines the retention, adaptation, and semantic shift of Bantu and Yoruba loanwords within traditional Afro-Brazilian oral genres across Bahia, Maranhão, and Rio de Janeiro. Through corpus analysis of recorded oral poetry collections and historical dictionaries, we map the frequency, distribution, and stylistic function of Africanisms in vernacular verse. The research reveals that these lexical items operate beyond mere referential utility; they function as potent aesthetic markers, spiritual invocations, and identity signifiers that sustain ancestral epistemologies within popular Brazilian culture. We analyze how oral poets exploit the phonetic textures and rhythmic cadence of African terms to enhance musicality and emotional resonance in improvised verse. Furthermore, the paper addresses the historical marginalization of African-derived vocabulary in standard lexicography, advocating for a decolonial linguistic approach that recognizes popular oral poetry as a primary archive of linguistic innovation and cultural resistance.
Festivals of Memory: Ritual Performance, Carnival, and Communal Catharsis in Northeast Brazil
Dr. Sofia Mendes & Prof. Marcus Vinícius Ribeiro (& Centre for Folkloric Studies, Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife)
Abstract
Traditional festivals in Northeastern Brazil—such as *Bumba-Meu-Boi*, *Maracatu*, and regional *Carnaval* celebrations—constitute monumental multimedia spectacles where oral poetry, music, dance, dramatic storytelling, and elaborate visual pageantry converge. This paper investigates these festivals as complex sites of collective memory and ritual catharsis. Through multi-year ethnographic fieldwork combining participant observation, interviews with festival masters (*mestres*), and folkloristic analysis, we examine how festival narratives encode historical trauma, resistance against colonial oppression, and celebration of syncretic religious identities. The research explores the strict pedagogical structures through which festival songs, percussion rhythms, and choreography are transmitted orally across generations without written scores. We analyze how the temporary inversion of social hierarchies during festival periods provides a crucial psychological safety valve and political forum for marginalized working-class communities. Our findings underscore that these festival performances are not ephemeral tourist spectacles, but vital, enduring archives of cultural resilience and community cohesion in modern Brazil.
Voices in the Dark: Radio Storytelling and the Orality-Literacy Continuum in Rural Communities
Prof. Rodrigo Antunes & Dr. Teresa de Sousa (& Department of Media Studies, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte)
Abstract
Community radio broadcasting has long served as a vital medium for sustaining oral storytelling traditions in isolated rural areas of Latin America. This article investigates the phenomenon of rural radio storytelling programs (*programas de causos e violeiros*) in Minas Gerais, examining how electronic broadcast technology interacts with traditional face-to-face oral poetics. Through acoustic analysis of radio broadcasts, listener surveys, and interviews with station broadcasters, we explore how radio creates an intimate auditory environment that revitalizes traditional folktales, regional poetry, and local news transmission. The study applies Walter Ong's theories of secondary orality to demonstrate how radio storytelling bridges rural isolation and modern media connectivity without destroying the communal intimacy characteristic of primary oral cultures. We analyze the narrative structures of serialized radio stories, noting how broadcasters utilize vocal inflection, ambient sound effects, and listener call-in segments to recreate the social circle of the fireside or town square. Our findings suggest that community radio acts as a crucial guardian of oral heritage, empowering rural populations to assert their cultural identity within national media landscapes.
Digital Archives and Living Oralities: Methodological Challenges in Preserving Endangered Poetic Traditions
Dr. Mariana Nogueira & Prof. Lucas C. Albuquerque (& Digital Humanities Laboratory, University of São Paulo)
Abstract
The systematic archiving of oral poetry and endangered vernacular traditions presents profound ethical and methodological dilemmas for contemporary digital humanities research. When live, fugitive oral performances are captured, transcribed, digitized, and cataloged in online repositories, they undergo a fundamental ontological transformation from living communal practice to static museum artifact. This paper examines the design principles and ethical protocols of digital archive projects dedicated to preserving threatened indigenous and traditional oral repertoires in Brazil. Through a critical review of metadata standards, user-interface design, and community collaboration models, we investigate how digital humanities scholars can mitigate the extractive nature of archival collection by implementing participatory archiving frameworks. We propose ethical guidelines that guarantee indigenous and traditional communities sovereign ownership over their digital cultural heritage, ensuring that access restrictions respect sacred or esoteric oral knowledge. Furthermore, we analyze software tools for multilinear annotation of oral discourse, demonstrating how digital platforms can preserve audio-visual nuances, paralinguistic cues, and contextual metadata alongside textual transcriptions. This study offers a vital roadmap for balancing academic preservation with community cultural autonomy in the digital age.
The Poetics of Lament: Ritual Mourning Songs and Oral Elegies in Rural Communities
Dr. Camila Miller & Prof. Gabriel Furtado (& Department of Comparative Literature, Universidad de Chile, Santiago)
Abstract
Ritual lamentation represents one of the most archaic and emotionally charged oral poetic genres known to human culture. This study investigates the traditional mourning songs, improvised elegies, and death chants (*cantos de pranto*) preserved by female cantors in rural agrarian communities across the Southern Cone. Through musical transcription, poetic text analysis, and performance ethnography, we examine how ritual weeping is formalized into structured musical and poetic art forms that facilitate communal grief processing and ancestral veneration. The research analyzes the rhetorical devices specific to oral laments, including fragmented phrasing, hyperbolic repetition, sobbing vocal breaks integrated into melodic lines, and direct apostrophe to the deceased. We explore how these oral elegies serve as vital repositories of genealogy, trauma history, and emotional solidarity among rural women. The paper contrasts traditional ritual lament with modern sanitized institutional grieving practices, arguing that oral elegiac poetry provides an indispensable psychological and cultural technology for negotiating mortality. Our findings contribute to oral poetics and death studies by highlighting the rigorous aesthetic complexity underlying spontaneous ritual mourning.
Myth, Metaphor, and Modernity: Re-reading Amazonian Cosmologies in Contemporary Latin American Fiction
Prof. Julian Thorne & Dr. Helena Vasconcelos (& Institute of Latin American Literature, University of Oxford, UK)
Abstract
Contemporary Latin American fiction has increasingly turned to indigenous Amazonian oral cosmologies to critique developmentalist narratives of modernity and ecological devastation. This paper examines how contemporary novelists incorporate oral mythic structures—such as shamanic transformation, animist ontology, and cyclical time—into postmodern literary narratives. Through close textual readings of recent works by prominent Brazilian and Hispanic-American authors, we analyze how fiction writers translate oral myth into written literary metaphor without reducing indigenous cosmologies to exotic literary decoration. The investigation explores how these novels deploy magical realism and speculative fiction as epistemological tools that challenge Western anthropocentric assumptions. We demonstrate that these literary texts engage in a sophisticated dialogue with traditional oral epics, functioning as translational bridges between oral indigenous epistemologies and global literary discourse. Our findings suggest that contemporary fiction informed by Amazonian oral poetics offers vital imaginative resources for confronting the ecological and existential crises of the contemporary Anthropocene.
Proverbs and Proverbial Speech in Afro-Brazilian Communities: Rhetoric, Morality, and Social Control
Dr. Amadou Diallo & Dr. Helena Vasconcelos (& Department of Folklore and Anthropology, Federal University of Bahia, Salvador)
Abstract
Proverbial speech represents one of the most concentrated and pervasive forms of everyday oral poetics. This paper examines the rhetorical use, moral framing, and social functions of traditional proverbs (*ditos populares* and Afro-Brazilian proverbial expressions) recorded in traditional communities across Bahia. Through contextualized conversational analysis and folkloristic fieldwork, we investigate how elders and community leaders deploy proverbs not merely as decorative stylistic ornaments, but as authoritative legal-moral precedents used to resolve interpersonal disputes, regulate social behavior, and impart cultural wisdom to younger generations. The study categorizes prevalent metaphorical motifs within the collected corpus, highlighting themes of patience, communal solidarity, resilience against oppression, and respect for ancestral wisdom. We analyze how speakers strategically alter proverbial formulas to fit specific rhetorical situations, demonstrating that proverbial speech is an active, improvisational art rather than a static collection of clichés. This research contributes to paremiology and cultural anthropology by illuminating how proverbial oral poetics sustains communal cohesion and ethical governance in Afro-Brazilian communities.