Carnival time: cultural policies and identity formulations in Fortaleza

Abstract

The article discusses how municipal cultural policies undertaken by the Fortaleza Department of Culture, between 2004 and 2010, operate in the process of resignifying cultural identities. The reflections presented here take as an empirical reference the maracatus and pre-Carnival block parades that took place during Carnival in Fortaleza, Ceará. These are presentations that are part of a “cycle of activities” in the city, during the carnival period, and that are made possible through public notices entitled “culture notices”. From the point of view of public authorities, the presentations of maracatus and pre-Carnival blocks, among other manifestations, promote ideas about Fortaleza that associate it with a cultural city, focused on traditions, deconstructing, in this sense, images that relate it only to natural beauties, such as those on its coast.