The book aims to relate themes such as identity, cultural representation and subjectivity as contexts for the creation of samba and its symbolism. It's important to note, so as not to avoid the obvious, that this work doesn't seek to resolve certain long-standing complaints about samba; after all, its solution would be in clear contradiction with itself. The purpose of the work is to ask questions about a cultural phenomenon that, as hard as they try to define it, stubbornly insists on reinventing itself.