THE EVENT OF THE NORTHEASTERN BEING AND(M) (DIS)COURSE: LANGUAGE, MEMORY AND HISTORY
Language; Society; Speech; cultural identity
This study made a dialogical analysis of the event of being northeastern in verb-visual genres. It aims to investigate a way for the qualification of the so-called Northeastern cultural identity and the social representations about the Northeast and its inhabitants were built in the rates and journalistic cartoons aired by major newspapers spread across Brazil. To achieve this goal, carry out a documentary and bibliographic research. We selected thirty-two cartoonists from different parts of the country, famous for their artistic works and for training specialists in opinionated image genres. For the analyses, we adopted the dialogic method of discourse, as we understand its usefulness when exploring subjective aspects involving a language. To theoretically support this study, we consulted the cultural identity theory, proposed by Castells (2018), the cultural hybridization theory, by Canclini (2015) and the cultural dialogic theory, by Morin (1991). As this is a discursive approach to the subject, we mainly adopt Bakhtin's theory of dialogic discourse analysis. During the analyses, we observed the use of cultural identity narratives by local and national elitist groups in society and saw that they are loaded with harmful social constructions, with political and ideological purposes, about the Northeast. We conclude that the rates build cultural narratives that operate in the maintenance of the power of local and national media and local and national political groups, as they spread disturbing social constructions for a Brazilian society about the Northeast and its inhabitants by de-characterizing it. Furthermore, this research points to a need for cartoonists, as opinionated journalists, to cultivate responsibility for their art in order to avoid propagating the discourses of xenophobia, prejudice and above all of intolerance rooted in society.