Maidens, flirts and seducers

the objectification of women’s bodies in the musical works of Chiquinha Gonzaga

Authors

  • Eliane Regina Crestani Tortola Federal University of Paraná
  • Larissa Michelle Lara State University of Maringá

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.39682

Keywords:

bodies, women, Chiquinha Gonzaga, device, discourse, Brazil

Abstract

This paper discusses the objectification of women’s bodies in the discursive regularities present in the musical compositions of Chiquinha Gonzaga, a late nineteenth and early twentieth century composer from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Guided by Foucauldian discourse analysis, the paper argues that enunciations emerging from Gonzaga’s songs are triggered by the devices of sexuality, racial whitening, resistance, confession and marriage. Based in a musical discourse that references women with terms such as maiden, seducer, flirt, tasty and mulatto, these enunciations are demarcated by hierarchies of gender, ethnicity and social class. Even though the enunciations under investigation are associated with a particular musical era in Rio de Janeiro’s history, they are not far removed from dominant enunciations about women in contemporary Brazil. This suggests the difficulty of breaking away from representations that subjugate women, particularly when the patriarchal power relations that enabled these representations remain prominent.

Author Biographies

  • Eliane Regina Crestani Tortola, Federal University of Paraná

    Eliane Regina Crestani Tortola is Lecture Professor in the Physical Education Course at the Federal University of Paraná. She is currently a member of the ‘Gender’ Working Group of the Brazilian College of Sport Sciences. She was a Lecture Professor at the Federal University of Pelotas in the years 2019–2020.

  • Larissa Michelle Lara, State University of Maringá

    Larissa Michelle Lara is Associate Professor in the Department of Physical Education and in the UEM-UEL Associate Graduate Program of Physical Education at the State University of Maringá. She currently serves as Scientific Director of the Brazilian College of Sports Sciences and Director of the State University of Maringá Press.

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Published

2020-12-18

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Tortola, E. R. C., & Lara, L. M. (2020). Maidens, flirts and seducers: the objectification of women’s bodies in the musical works of Chiquinha Gonzaga. Gender and Language, 14(4), 409-428. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.39682