A contribuição da Oktoberfest para o discurso identitário germânico de Santa Cruz do Sul.

Abstract

This study aims at analyzing the contribution of this festivity with German connotation called Oktoberfest to the process of creating the discourse of German identity in the municipality of Santa Cruz do Sul situated in the central region of the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The study is divided in three parts. In the first, a historical analysis is made about the German colonization policy in Brazil, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul and in Santa Cruz do Sul as well as the work those immigrants did on their first colonial nucleus, their growth and their first cultural manifestations. In the second chapter a theory is introduced about celebrations, especially the ethnic ones, together with the amount of contribution those have brought to a cultural identity expression and the building up of the community complexion. A discussion is made about the way by which a specific political group of the community, as well as the local press have given legitimacy to those identity assertions, using the two main series of festivities in the municipality, namely the FENAF (National Tobacco Festivity) and the Oktoberfest. In the third part we bring in the results of the field investigation research on how the Oktoberfest of 2008 was brought about. We used direct observation and semi-structured questionnaires with the organizers of that year‟s event. It was possible to perceive this identity assertion with some of them. This analysis is important to understand the underlying process of this movement viewing the maintenance of this German-Brazilian identity claim, its constitution and negotiation as a strategy to keep this distinctiveness and, also, as a symbol of social classification, thus showing the ethnical and cultural representations which interact in the Oktoberfest context.