ABSTRACT
This article aims to highlight the role of the gift as the engine of the actions of the traditional group of samba players of the Carioca carnival associations. It is assumed that their practices and life histories dedicated to samba are responsible for the creation of networks of solidarity and reciprocity, contributing to the strengthening of the Afro-Brazilian ethnicity. The samba has played, among others, a socializing and mainly civilizing function, uniting people and groups in networks where it is the gift that circulates. As a total social fact, samba created samba schools, artistic groups and festivals capable of promoting entertainment and forms of coexistence that allow the resolution of differences and rivalries in a peaceful way demonstrating their importance in the process of interiorization of a civilizing ethos in the city and in the nation.
KEYWORDS:
Samba; samba school; traditional group; ethnicity; sociability; gift
