“Moreninha”:

women objectification in folk songs of a rural community

Abstract

This article analyzes the sexual objectification of woman in the folk songs of a traditional rural community in the municipality of São Luiz do Paraitinga, Brazil, as part of an ethnographic research of the expressions of local popular culture.
A brief historiography of the “moreninha” (brunette) is made, starting with the singing slaves (Qiyan) of the Arab world, the enchanted Moorish in the Iberian Peninsula, the Brazilian Indigenous woman, and the mulatta. It concluded that the presence
of the brunette in Brazilian folk songs incorporate centuries of women objectification, in a form of patriarchal domination that encompasses gender, ethnic, political, and economic aspects.