Cabra da Peste Não Morre de Fome: a poética subversiva como arma contra a mitificação do Nordeste

Abstract

This article reveals the mechanisms of construction and perpetuation of the stereotype of the "strong Northeasterner" as a technology of power that naturalizes oppression. Based on the assumption that language constitutes reality (Maturana; Varela, 2001), it analyzes how media narratives (78% of reports - IBGE, 2021) and educational narratives (88% of manuals - INEP, 2022) forged an identity based on resignation, in contrast to Freire's pedagogy of autonomy. Articulating Bakhtin's theory of carnivalization with the notion of selective memory (Jablonka, 2016), it demonstrates how popular culture - exemplified by the subversive poetry of Patativa do Assaré - operates discursive against performances that resignify the "cabra da peste" (a plague-ridden goat) as an emblem of dignity. It concludes that there is an urgent need for a pedagogy of narratives that, following Albuquerque Júnior (2011), transforms memory from a weapon of containment into an instrument of liberation, replacing the myth of resigned strength with the inventive power of the real Northeast.