Floating sentiments: silence and memory in the encounter between the celebration of Tooro Nagashi and the intangible cultural heritage policy in Brazil

Abstract

ABSTRACT Tooro Nagashi is a cultural practice performed by groups of Japanese descendants in the Ribeira Valley in Brazil. Based on the notion of ‘friction’, the paper describes the encounter between the Brazilian policy of intangible cultural heritage and the celebration. It identifies points of engagement through which new accounts and unsuspected silences involving the performance and its history emerge, revealing how historical traumas associated with global war and state repression inform the experience of these groups of Japanese descendants. In acknowledging this sensitive history, the analysis also discloses the complexities of the celebration of Tooro Nagashi challenging the standards of the Brazilian intangible cultural heritage.