ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to present the author’s research with the women of Tejucupapo, a mangrove region in the North Forest of Pernambuco, Brazil. Every year since 1993, local women produce and perform in a theatrical production titled A Batalha das Heroínas (The Battle of the Heroines). Having the women of Tejucupapo as protagonists, the community restores the history of the village invaded by the Dutch in 1646 and saved by its women. It was the first battle with female participation recorded in Brazil. Part of an artistic tradition, the production provides us with vigorous performances based on the bodily/sound experiences of coco de roda, ciranda, and the strenuous daily practice of gathering oysters. In eliciting her experience with the community between 2007 and 2010, the author also shares how her research fostered the development of a group of practices for performance creation in the last ten years: artethnography, mythodology in art, and f(r)iction artist, all described in this chapter. Ultimately, in weaving space and time together, this chapter also intends to unveil the hidden stories of women who have taken part in resistance efforts against colonialism, narratives that live on in symbolic acts in small group cultures.
