XVII Congress of the Brazilian Studies Association

Hope Right and Left: Performing Politics Through Christian Musicking in Brazil

• In Event: Skeptical Hope: Performing Beyond The Pink Tide and Neofascism in Brazil

Abstract

On October 24, 2022, Revista Veja, one of Brazil's major news outlets, declared: "Gospel singers unite in protest song against Bolsonaro." A few days later, On October 29–the day before Brazil's presidential election–JMNotícia, another news outlet, published a different headline: "Main Gospel singers make video supporting Bolsonaro." Veja responded two months later with yet another proclamation: "The cry of evangélicos at Lula's inauguration." Amid the increased polarization of Brazilian society in recent years, notions of hope, both temporal and eschatological, have been leveraged in performance by Christian artists in Brazil on different sides of the socio-political debate. This paper draws on social media posts, music videos, and other mediatized releases to examine how Brazilian Christian artists combine notions of hope with particular political stances at a time when the social positionality and political protagonism of Brazil's increasing evangélico population has increased, albeit under mounting scrutiny and pressure. Against the backdrop of the political divide throughout the timeline of Brazil's 2022 election cycle, it illustrates how Lula's victory has created opportunities for artists operating in the Brazilian Christian market to re-articulate hope, skeptical or exuberant, in relation to the political shift.

Author

• Marcell Silva Steuernagel, Southern Methodist University