A capoeira no discurso jornalístico do século XIX: construção de sentidos e práticas de interdição

Abstract

Afro-Brazilian cultural expressions have faced countless attempts at repression and eradication since the beginning of colonization. However, many of them have endured over time and are now celebrated as expressions of Brazilian originality and cultural identity. Capoeira is a symbolic example of this process of resistance, for despite having been persecuted and stigmatized, it managed to stay alive and is now recognized as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity. During the 19th century, print newspapers were the primary means of communication in Brazil, responsible for the circulation of news. In 1875, the Gazeta de Notícias do Rio de Janeiro was founded, becoming one of the country’s most influential newspapers. Given its significance and the historical context of its founding, this study analyzed two excerpts from 1890 published in the newspaper, both containing news reports that mentioned capoeiristas. This time period is particularly significant, as 1890 was the year in which capoeira was criminalized under Article 402 of the Republican Penal Code. To provide a theoretical foundation for the analysis of journalistic discourses from that period, we draw on the contributions of Pêcheux (1988), Orlandi (1998; 2007; 2015), Althusser (1970), among others. Pêcheux, for example, defines discourse as a process governed by the internal laws of language, in which meanings are constructed based on the relationship between speakers who are socially and politically marked. According to Pêcheux, discursive formation determined by ideological formation is what defines what can and should be said in a given historical and social context. This means that speakers, even when they believe they have complete freedom of expression, are unconsciously shaped by ideas, values, and beliefs that they reproduce without realizing it. Thus, their utterances are neither neutral nor entirely autonomous; they reflect the ideological conditions in which they are embedded. Applying this framework to the researched corpus, it is evident that the discourses published in the Gazeta de Notícias in 1890 were not impartial utterances, but rather utterances laden with value judgments and a dominant ideology that associated capoeira with vagrancy, delinquency, and the Black population. Terms such as “notorious capoeira” reveal discursive patterns that normalized the repression and criminalization of the practice. Thus, the press acted as a significant mechanism for legitimizing racism and social exclusion, playing a fundamental role in the prohibition of capoeira and the marginalization of its practitioners.