Uma cartografia dos saberesfazeres carnavalescos e dos processos de criação coletiva nos barracões na Cidade do Samba pelo olhar de um designer

Abstract

The focus of this study is on the craftsmanship and savoir-faire of Carnival. The research begins with the insights gained during my master's dissertation at Cidade do Samba, aiming to develop a specific understanding of this creative territory. This investigation seeks to explore to what extent the samba schools’ ateliers can be considered spaces of knowledge construction and processes that articulate practical skills and collective creation. This thesis follows the creative processes involved in producing Carnival art. In doing so, I focus on testimonies from workers and theorists who produce, challenge, study, and organize these savoir-faire practices within these spaces. The study mobilizes theoretical knowledge from various fields, such as social creativity, project-based thinking, and knowledge management, acknowledging that the object of study is always a complex problem requiring a multidisciplinary approach. By focusing on the workers in the ateliers, I aim to value the art and craft of those who, often anonymously, create and produce the materiality of the Carnival spectacle. To achieve these goals, I regarded a brief historical contextualization as relevant, tracing the aesthetic development of Carnival parades from the 1930s to the present day. The subsequent phase involved conducting a systematic literature review, providing a state-of-the-art overview of the field—specifically, the production of Carnival parades. At this point, I directed my methodological approach towards social cartography as a research method for fieldwork. Recognizing that immersion in the experiential plane could offer valuable insights—where knowledge and practice become inseparable, I opted for an audiovisual resource to produce interviews. This approach served as a methodological device capable of enhancing attentional regimes involved in data collection. The proposal to use the research structure as a script for a mini documentary aimed to capture and record reality within the ateliers, including behavioral nuances, thus allowing for better analysis and reflection. I believe that a mini documentary has the power to preserve memories and experiences from everyday life at Cidade do Samba, which might otherwise be forgotten or overlooked. It is important to emphasize that the concept of “territory” involved in this research is not geographical or temporal but rather “existential,” enabling the observation of subjective processes that operate in daily life at Cidade do Samba. After returning from the field with the substantial volume of data collected, I conducted a content analysis (CA). I developed a coding framework to categorize the textual and visual corpus, resulting in three categories: artisans and craftworkers, carnavalesque designers, and researchers and academics. This textual corpus can be regarded as the central nucleus or primary reference source for the study’s objectives. In the final considerations, I highlighted the main findings that contributed to the development of a graphical model illustrating the intersection of carnivalesque savoir-faire practices. The “delicate balance” between tradition and innovation negotiated within the ateliers influences the knowledge produced in these spaces, shifting from increasingly tacit to increasingly explicit through a spiraling process of knowledge exchange involving socialization and externalization stages, ultimately leading to new savoir-faire and knowledge constructs via a dynamic process of creative circularity. I conclude by underscoring some relevant insights that emerged during the research. Viewing Cidade do Samba as a “device” where lines of force assemble the subjects operating within these spaces, key traits of this territory as a self-referential system, capable of producing and maintaining its own structures and essential components, were observed. Another significant perspective is the potential for extending this investigation through the audiovisual mini documentary as a strategy for externalizing carnivalesque savoir-faire practices. This audiovisual production aims to serve as a bridge connecting academic research with other fields, broadening the visibility and dissemination of the knowledge and experiences gained in the ateliers. Thus, the mini documentary not only records but also values and amplifies dialogue across knowledge domains, democratizing access to the complexities of this creative territory.