BLACK IN THE ARENAS OF REPRESENTATIONS: a parallel between theater and museology from an Afrocentric perspective

Abstract

This paper presents some reflections from an Afrocentric perspective on the similarities and differences between Theater and Museology as academic disciplines, taking into consideration their major arenas of representations that are the theater itself and the museum. To this end, a brief analysis of their origins will be made in an attempt to contextualize their structuring foundations. Following, we seek to understand the representations of blacks in contemporary theater and museum. We conclude with the exemplifications of one theater play and one museum exhibition in the city of Salvador, Bahia, that project the protagonism of black people, placing them in the position as subjects of their own history, rather than objects of it. The text thus reveals the tensions and frictions present in these representational arenas.