O (des)encanto da Sofia: a cobra-grande como mito e crítica social na cidade de Santana

Abstract

This work deals with the myth of the giant snake in the imaginary city of Santana, State of Amapa. In this city, there is a tradition of discourse that says that there is a snake in the depths of the Amazon River, called by the people of Sofia. The study initially presents an approach on the myth of giant snake in the Amazon regional imaginary, in which it is considered as an enchanted. The aim is to analyze how the giant snake myth appears in literature, regional folklore and anthropological studies of ethnic populations of the Amazon. Then the work makes an imaginary description of the snake in the city Sofia. Finally, the study examines two episodes related to the mining crisis in the state of Amapá. In these episodes were concussions in Santana port and consequent disasters, and that the city's population, especially those bordering living in near the Amazon River, said to have been the action of snake Sofia. The speech of riverine is conceived here as a tradition of narrative and that was instrumentalised as a social critique of the time of crisis in the exploitation of minerals in Amapá.