Corpo-Terra e a construção da sergipanidade: uma pesquisa acadêmica e cênica do corpo como território de resistência, memória e identidade

Abstract

This article investigates how the "Corpo-Terra" project proposes a critical reframing of the concept of sergipanidade, traditionally shaped by official narratives that have silenced Afro-Indigenous voices and marginalized cultural practices. Drawing from the experiences and reflections of Jonathan Rodrigues, "Corpo-Terra" uses performing arts to explore how the body can serve as a territory of memory, resistance, and identity reconstruction. Inspired by Beatriz Nascimento's concept of Body-Document and Conceição Evaristo's notion of escrevivência (writing as lived experience), the project challenges dominant narratives and retrieves hidden histories in manifestations such as the Samba de Pareia, the Lambe-Sujos and Caboclinhos ritual, and the cosmologies of the Kariri-Xocó people. The research reflects on how sergipanidade, often reduced to an elitist and homogeneous abstraction, overlooks the plurality of experiences that shape the Sergipe territory. "Corpo-Terra" emerges as a counter-narrative that not only celebrates but repositions these cultural practices as central pillars of collective identity. The body, in this context, becomes a platform for resistance and dialogue, where history and ancestry intertwine with critiques of power, structural racism, and environmental devastation—encompassing both us and the entire ecosystem of which we are a part.