It’s a long way, it’s a long day: Relações de poder assimétrico, negociações de autenticidade e agências históricas no mundo atlântico, em Batuka, de Madonna (2019)

Abstract

The present article intends to analyze the power asymmetries in the context of the Atlantic world, based on a case study of the song Batuka, by American singer Madonna, released in 2019. The song, which features the all-female cape-verdean group Orquestra de Batukadeiras, allows the visualization of a dynamic of power asymmetries games, negotiations of authenticity and historical agencies in the globalized world. These dynamics presente some aspects, in their structures of production, execution and dissemination, that suggest the continuation of colonial violences and its post-colonial reconstruction in the Black Atlantic, a combined space that, at the same time as it produces culture, intellect and politics, refers to a past of racism, slavery and Imperialism. On the other hand, the aim is to highlight the historical agency on the part of diverse social actors of the identities and meanings of difference and inequality in this space of ambiguity.