Tradition in dispute: artisanal cachaça in the setting of Minas Gerais

Abstract

Invented traditions are practices that assign values ​​through repetition, in order to establish meanings that connect to a history. At the same time that they represent the beginning of a period, these traditions are detached from the process from which they emerged, establishing continuity with a past, whose meanings are changeable. In this sense, the article analyzes conflicts and exclusions in the reinvention of the so-called traditional still-made, (alambique), cachaça. Through qualitative research, the practices and narratives used over four decades (1982-2020) in Minas Gerais were examined. The findings showed a network of actors who established themselves as the guardians of tradition, based on technical and scientific knowledge. The mixture of old and new elements played the role of situating cachaça as a new drink (as distinct from the old cachaça known as “pinga”), but also as “traditional”. Although this discourse has effectively covered over a number of historical incongruities, the narrative works on the basis of dualisms that maintain the identity of a specific group (entrepreneurs), while at the same conferring on them a status and an authority to decide who (the majority of small rural producers) should be excluded from this process of innovation.