An ethnographic study of critical pedagogy and the production and mediation of popular culture in Salvador, Bahia Brazil

In response to the socioeconomic situation caused by years of hyperinflation and a failed “miracle” of development, many Brazilians have developed alternative approaches to improve basic living conditions, including education which is believed to be linked to socioeconomic status. This qualitative study examines how a group of Afro-Brazilians affiliated with Olodum, a carnival entity turned community development organization, use popular culture to critically educate a marginalized community. Through interviews, participant observations and a review of documents, it explores ways in which Afro-Brazilian cultural workers produce and mediate popular culture to increase awareness of the dynamics of power in society. To fully depict the setting, each chapter begins with lyrics from Brazilian popular music and links them to the discussion.; The organization's activities in the realms of formal education and carnival rehearsals frame the ethnographic sketches which consider questions such as How do the production and mediation of popular culture become critical pedagogical experiences? How does critical pedagogy occur in different settings? Examinations of carnival rehearsals reconsider issues of public space, identity and the multiple meanings construed from the processes of mediating popular culture. The concepts of communitas and revitalization are employed to help make sense of the Olodum's emerging relationship with the larger Brazilian society and its traditional constituency, Afro-Brazilian community. There is a struggle to produce and mediate popular culture in a way that make it both a viable economic commodity and an authentic cultural expression that awakens critical consciousness.; Afro-Brazilian educators aver that if education is to be a means of bridging inequalities, there is a need to revisit and redefine education to empower Afro-Brazilians so they are better equipped to negotiate their way through the dynamics that obstruct their full and equal participation in Brazilian society. The study steps into the classrooms of Escola Criativa Olodum in an effort to uncover the workings of interethnic pedagogy, Olodum's brand of critical pedagogy, focusing on textbooks, teachers, staff and community outreach, discipline, and how boundaries are negotiated.