Ana Teresa Jardim Reynaud

"O Espaço Reconstituído: performance e imigração"

My paper centers around my research project based on the observation of European and Asian immigrants - French, Portuguese, Spanish, Italians, Polish and Japanese - and their descendants who live in Rio de Janeiro. The great majority arrived in Brazil in the first-half of the twentieth century largely in response to events of the two world wars. In my research (which I intend to start next year) I wish to investigate the choices these immigrants make in how they have re-constituted and celebrated/performed their old world traditions in a carioca (Rio) setting through elements such as music, dance, dress, props, and cuisine. I am particularly interested in which elements of pre-migrant culture and experience are re-created in Rio and which are left out. Specifically, what needs, strategies and politics shape these adaptations of ethnic, national, and religious traditions?
In my paper, I pay close attention to the notion of urban "space." Which spaces do these immigrants choose to celebrate their festivals: clubs, schools, pavilions, theaters, and even more domestic settings? How are existing spaces altered to accommodate these events and what are the original urban functions of these altered spaces? How do these physical structures conform to Rio's urban texture, notably the city's architectural and social configuration? In focusing on immigrant strategies of adaptation and preservation through festivities in Rio, ultimately, I hope to explore the invisible city - the symbolic city which people experiment with their memories and affections and which is inscribed in the visible spatiality.