O Nordeste performado: representações, estereótipos e visibilidade no BookTok Brasil

Abstract

This study investigates the disputes over meaning surrounding literary works authored by Northeastern Brazilian writers within BookTok Brazil, a literary community on TikTok, questioning the extent to which content produced and published on the platform negotiates, reinforces, or challenges historical stereotypes associated with the region. The study aims to analyze the discursive and visual strategies employed by influencers in the promotion of these works. To this end, it adopts an exploratory qualitative-quantitative approach, combining bibliographic review, netnography (Kozinets, 2014), and content analysis (Bardin, 1977). The corpus consists of 34 videos collected between February and August 2025, examined through three categorical axes: representations of the Northeast and Northeastern literature; the agents and intentionalities of literary mediation; and algorithmic dynamics, engagement, and performance. The theoretical framework articulates studies on identity and the invention of the Northeast by Albuquerque Júnior (2011) and Santiago Neto (2024) with the concept of digital influencers proposed by Primo, Matos, and Monteiro (2021), in dialogue with perspectives on platformization and data governance developed by Van Dijck (2017), D’Andréa (2020), and Martins and Bolaño (2025). The findings highlight the central role of local mediators in processes of identity reinvention, albeit in tension with the structural invisibility imposed by TikTok’s algorithm, and contribute to a broader understanding of new forms of circulation of contemporary Brazilian literature beyond the hegemonic cultural axis.