Gender Fluidity and Yoruba Religion in the Construction of an Afro-Brazilian Identity: Karim Aïnouz's Madame Satã
Abstract
Amid intense racial tensions in 1930’s Brazil, João Francisco dos Santos, rises to prominence as one of Rio’s most famous malandros. Simultaneously feared and persecuted by Brazilian authorities for his violent reactionary outbursts on the one hand, and his sensual incarnation of the afro-Brazilian mulatta on the other hand, this article analyzes Karim Aïnouz’s biopic Madame Satã, and examines the role that João’s religious beliefs plays on the conceptualization of his identity. This article contends that the concept of gender fluidity rooted in Afro- diasporic Yoruba religion provides a normative framework through which João contests the rigid ideations of gender and performance imposed on the black community by a patriarchal white society.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.23870/marlas.216 | Journal eISSN: 2474-9621
Language: English
Page range: 53 - 80
Published on: Jun 29, 2019
Published by: Middle Atlantic Council of Latin American Studies and Kean University
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Keywords:
© 2019 Sarita Naa Akuye Addy, David Mongor-Lizarrabengoa, published by Middle Atlantic Council of Latin American Studies and Kean University
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.