A brincadeira do Mamulengo: o que pode estar em jogo em certa empanada de bonecos brasileiros

Abstract

This article proposes a reflection about Mamulengo, a form of traditional Brazilian puppet theatre, as observed in the Zona da Mata of the State of Pernambuco, identifying some of its structural characteristics and launching frameworks based on concepts pertinent to cultural and theatre studies. The analysis highlights the thinking of Johan Huizinga, Victor Turner and Roger Abrahams, in the sense of understanding such artistic expression as a play, its liminal states and as a folk drama respectively. Such notes bring the understanding of these theorists closer to the thinking of the puppeteers themselves, in defense of the recognising and an appreciation of the long-term arsenal of knowledge and codified techniques under the domain of these puppeteers.