“NOSSO POVO NUNCA VAI SE ENTREGAR”: UM ESTUDO DAS ESCOLHAS DE TRANSITIVIDADE NA REPRESENTAÇÃO DO NEGRO EM LETRAS DE RAP DO MÚSICO THIAGO ELNIÑO

Abstract

Thiago Elniño is rapper, art educator and pedagogue. In his lyrics, the musician seeks to demonstrate the reality lived in the past by the African peoples who were brought to Brazil and how black people still suffer the harsh consequences of this history. Thus, the objective of this research is to identify and discuss the representation of the Negro in Thiago Elniño's rap lyrics with the help Systemic-Functional Grammar, and more specifically, the Transitivity System. To achieve this goal, we also present the history of Hip Hop, and show the origin of the 4 elements present in the culture (Djing, breaking, graffiti, and rap). The study also discusses the formation context and experience of the rapper Thiago Elniño. In addition, the study presents some historical aspects related to the history of black people in Brazil and the Negro movement as an important means of resistance, which always sought to denounce the various forms of racism and and how to fight it. We show that education has always been an issue for blacks, who as a result achieved some positive outcomes such as the Law 10.639/03 and the quota system in public universities. Our research follows a qualitative-interpretative orientation. As a theoretical basis, it draws upon Halliday and Matthiessen's Transitivity System (2004, 2014). Our corpus consists of two songs by Thiago Elniño. The analysis focuses on how black and white people are represented in clauses that present material, mental, relational and verbal processes. The results of the analysis show that black people are mainly represented as Goals in situations of violence committed by white man as represented Actors. In addition, the lyrics also show black people as a resistant humans beings who seek through their traditions to create a form of resistance. Due to its political and critical content, this work presents rap songs as a pedagogical possibility for use in educational contexts.