O carimbó de Vista Alegre do Maú/Pará: entre identidades e transmissão de saberes locais

Abstract

This study addresses carimbó as a fundamental piece of Amazonian cultural expression, reflecting the identities and local knowledge of traditional peoples and communities, especially the women who produce culture in the Amazon region of Pará. The general objective is to understand how carimbó, through its cultural ties with the community, mediates the process of transmitting local knowledge and valuing identities in Vista Alegre do Maú/Pará. Methodologically, this is an applied research study with a qualitative approach and explanatory objectives. The study also includes field research conducted in the Vista Alegre do Maú community. The participants are women members of the Caboclas Morenas carimbó group, with active listening focused on Mestra Sandra – the group's leader –, a woman whose life trajectory is deeply linked to carimbó, also recognized as a Mestra, and her daughter. Data collection is based on the methodology of oral history; the organization of narratives occurs through the Knowledge Network; and the analysis of information is conducted through narrative discourse analysis. The results show that the carimbó of Vista Alegre do Maú, especially in the performance of the women of the Caboclas Morenas carimbó group, is configured not only as an artistic practice, but also as a space for the transmission of local knowledge and the valorization of identities. The conclusions also reveal that carimbó is not limited to an expression of music or dance alone, but constitutes a space of meanings, memories, and knowledge, in which collective practices and oral narratives delineate the identities that mark the individual and the collective, as well as the values and forms of sociability that make carimbó a valuable manifestation in the territory of Vista Alegre do Maú. The women of the Caboclas Morenas group thus represent the continuity of the transmission of local knowledge between generations.