Name: Caio Ruano da Silva
Type: MSc dissertation
Publication date: 14/02/2020
Advisor:
Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| Cristiana Losekann | Advisor * |
Examining board:
| Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| Cristiana Losekann | Advisor * |
| Diego Kern Lopes | External Examiner * |
| Igor Suzano Machado | Internal Alternate * |
| Matheus Mazzilli Pereira | External Examiner * |
Summary: Slam poetry is a form of performance poetry created by Marc Kelly Smith in Chicago during the 1980s. Since then, slam has spread throughout many locations in the world. According to its precursor, this type of poetry is based in five main elements: poetry, performance, competition, interaction and community. In their speeches, there seems to be an special affection of poets for themes regarding the social and the political. Nevertheless, political
theory has ignored slam poetry in its corpus of studies. Slam has been most studied in the education field, since its utilization in schools has been observed in many countries. Based on this, the current study had two main aims. First, slam poetry was inserted in the political theory field. In this sense, slam was considered a manifestation of an emotional community fighting for a radical and plural democracy. Secondly, the research analyzed the expansion of
slams from open spaces of public access to the institutional environments of formal education. Two distinct situations of institutionalization were observed: the slam brought to schools by teachers, students and slammasters; and the slam used by the State Governments Education Secretariat as a mean to promote a specific educational policy. This study tried to comprehend
the transformations of the political potential of slam poetry when transposed to these different environments. The research was based in documental analysis, participant observation in 14 slam events, and interviews with 25 people who are differently involved in the slam movement in the Espírito Santo State (Brazil) and in the Province of Québec (Canada).
Keywords: Slam poetry; Politics; Education; Institutionalization.
