“The Várzea didn’t die”: the sociocultural meaning of the soccer game “Black vs. White”

Abstract

Introduction: This text in homage to the teacher Simoni Guedes (in memoriam) thematizes the Várzea soccer. In the case, the cultural experience of “Black vs. White”, the soccer game which occurs in the São João Clímaco periphery, São Paulo. Capital, about 50 years ago. The questions that guide this article are: what is the symbolic function of “Black vs. White”? What social bonds are created? What are their ideals, reproducing or reinterpreting, of the dominant order? Objective: The authors aimed to interpret what this soccer game in the São Paulo Várzea represents for the community that promotes it. Method: Therefore, we took as sources 13 interviews of protagonists of the game, the documentary “Black vs. White”, journalistic reports about the event, in addition to the perceptions captured by the participant observation of the phenomenon “from up close and from within”. Results: When approaching and entering the game we discovered that it is a football ritual held annually with the objective of affirming the values that are promoted and preserved by the guardians of that group's memory. This game that celebrates the friendship of black friends and white friends has the symbolic message of showing itself as a collective whose distinctive mark of its identity is the fight against racism. Conclusion: For the community that promotes it, our interpretation is that the “Black vs. White” reveals the relationships about races in Brazilian culture through the cultural experience of a traditional soccer game rooted from São Paulo’s Várzea.