From the city to networks, sociabilities and urban virtualities: a digital ethnographic journey through the Festas de Agosto

Abstract

The Festas de Agosto in Montes Claros, Minas Gerais, hold a central place in the city’s popular imagination and foundational history, continually renewing—through folklore and popular celebration—the symbols that shape the identity and sense of belonging of its people. This festivity allows tradition and modernity to intertwine across generations in a celebration that is at once religious, profane, popular, and convergent. This text proposes a reflection on social networks as pivotal modes of presence—that is, as records of participation, catharsis, and circumscription that are physically encoded and virtually decoded. To this end, it follows the observational path of the 2023 edition of the festivities during their opening night on Friday, highlighting the investigative procedures and the movements of reflection, analysis, and engagement of the Festas de Agosto within, of, and through the network.