HAIR AS EXTENSIONS: PROSTHETIC RELATIONS, MATERIALITY AND AGENCY IN THE CARIOCA FUNK AESTHETICS

Abstract

By focusing on the bodily aesthetic produced to facilitate mobility in and out of different social spaces in Rio de Janeiro, it is argued that “the social life of objects” can only be considered if the quality of agency is reconciled with the possibility that objects may have their meaning manipulated. It is from this double possibility that we can speak of a causal network formed by humans and non-humans, both triggering events, but without losing their ontological status differentials. We argue, in light of Amerindian perspectivism and from a mimetic discussion, that subjects are empowered by objects and  that appearance –  more than interiority – is central to social interactions, as they happen  in the Brazilian urban environment.