By Morgan Van Beck

As a double major in Political Science and Hispanic Studies with a minor in Latino/Latin American Studies, I thought that I had a pretty good grasp on Latin American history and culture. While this was not incorrect, I was not aware of just how complex Brazil is and how little I really knew about it. None of my Hispanic Studies classes touched upon Brazil, and aside from speaking Portuguese rather than Spanish, it has a very distinct culture and history from the rest of Latin America. What I’ve learned while living in Salvador and traveling around Bahia is that a history of repression and inequality breeds resistance, which in turn creates culture. In short, resistance is culture. 

It helps to turn back the clock to 1500 when the Portuguese first landed in Bahia and started the vicious process of colonization. This led to the forced enslavement and relocation of millions of Africans to Brazil to work on plantations and in mines (Periera 2020). Hundreds of years later, in 1888, Brazil was the last country in the western hemisphere to abolish slavery (Periera 2020). The fact that it took so long to abolish slavery shows how integral it was to the Brazilian economy and how many salves suffered. Salvador is the city in Brazil with the highest percentage of the population being Afro-Brazilian. “Bahia is a state marked by racial inequality,” but it is also marked by a strong presence of traditions of African origin (Pinho 2020, 1). While in Salvador, we saw not only this inequality, but also many cultural elements that sprouted from African traditions and were preserved as a form of resistance. 

A prime example of resistance is salve revolts and the formation of quilombos. While in Minnesota, we learned about historic slave revolts in Bahia and about the quilombo communities that were formed by escaped slaves (dos Santos 2024). Quilombos had contact with the outside world and actively traded, but they were also perfect microcosms to preserve African traditions and resist the cultural impositions of the Europeans. We visited Quilombo Kaonge while in Brazil and were able to see for ourselves how the descendants of escaped slaves maintained the traditional practices that their ancestors preserved. We had the opportunity to learn about the cough syrup and palm oil that they produce and to learn from them about the importance of resisting cultural imposition. 

Carnival might be Brazil’s most famous event. People around the world know what carnival is, but they don’t know where it came from. Carnival has roots in African music, dance, and performance, and when we went to the carnival museum, we learned all about the lesser-known African history (at least for people in the US) of carnival. At the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, whites were threatened by African cultural elements in carnival and did their best to “civilize” carnival by emphasizing more European elements (Pinho 2020, 7). However, carnival still retains its African influence. This pattern repeats across Brazilian cultural elements. In response to repression by white elites, Afro-Brazilians resisted and preserved their African-rooted traditions while creating a rich Brazilian culture.

Another example of resistance becoming culture is the practice of candomblé. Candomblé is a religion brought to Brazil by slaves from Africa. We were first introduced to it in the book Crooked Plow, where many of the characters actively practiced candomblé (Vieira Junior 2019). Honestly, I didn’t entirely understand candomblé while we were reading the book back in Minnesota, but since being here, we have had a chance to learn a lot more about the religion that is also a symbol of resistance. Rather than submit to pressure by the Catholic church, African slaves were able to preserve their rich religious history. Now, Candomblé is celebrated as part of Bahian identity. We saw statues of orishas on our ride from the airport and now, after visiting various candomblé temples and hearing lectures about it, we have come to understand just how important it is to life here. ​

Brazilian music and dance are also heavily influenced by African traditions brought by slaves and preserved as a form of resistance. Now, Afro-Brazilians honor and remember their ancestors by continuing to learn these styles of music and dance. We were lucky enough to participate in a samba class, where we immediately noticed strong African rhythms and drumming in the music. We also went to a percussion workshop with Mario Pam, who taught us that drumming and music were not only used as tools of resistance by slaves and their immediate descendants, but by modern Brazilians as well. Afro-Brazilians today are still using music to express themselves and decry the inequalities that they suffer. This means that modern culture is still being shaped by Afro-Brazilian resistance.

Like percussive music and samba dancing, capoeira is another distinctive element of Brazilian culture that has its roots in African traditions. Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian martial art with elements of dance, music, and acrobatics. It exists today because of efforts by Afro-Brazilians to preserve and promote their culture and heritage. Before coming to Brazil, I had no clue what capoeira was, but now, I see it everywhere. We participated in two Capoeira workshops (one in Salvador and one in Lencois) and saw it performed as part of a folkloric ballet. However, its pervasiveness in culture means that we’ve also seen people doing capoeira at the beach, in parks, and in other public places. It’s just one more element of popular Brazilian culture that comes from resistance efforts by slaves and their descendants.  

​After nearly three weeks in Brazil, one of the things that I noticed the most was the prevalence of Afro-Brazilian resistance, which forms critical parts of Brazilian culture. Almost every day we saw examples of it, and they were not limited to the subjects I discussed above. We also saw Afro-Brazilian resistance in educational institutions, graffiti/street art, and so many other things. Race, inequality, and culture are all woven together into a complex knot. The oppression and inequality that Black Brazilians faced led them to create a rich culture of resistance that they are still contributing to today as inequality and racism continue to take new forms. Brazilian culture is distinctly marked by African traditions introduced by slavery, and it would not be the same without them. Therefore, to fully appreciate Brazilian culture, we need to understand its roots in African tradition and Afro-Brazilian resistance. 

Sources:
Dos Santos, Pedro. “Slave Revolts in Bahia.” YouTube. Uploaded by Pedro dos Santos, 13 February 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WO_syIfkYVQ.

Pereira, Anthony. Modern Brazil a very short introduction. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press, 2020.
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Pinho, Osmundo. “Race and Cultural Politics in Bahia.” In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American History, 2020.
 
Vieira Junior, Itamar. Crooked Plow. Verso Books, 2019. 

Morgan Van Beck is a senior Political Science and Hispanic Studies double major with a minor in Latino/Latin American Studies. She is originally from Sartell, Minnesota. Morgan's most formative educational experience was traveling around Guatemala with the Guatemala Human Rights Commission, which inspired the theme of her senior distinguished thesis: human rights abuses in post-conflict societies. Morgan recently received a Fulbright grant to teach English in Colombia and will be moving there shortly after graduation. ​

​By Carter Potthoff

​As we wrap up our three weeks here in Bahia, I have begun to reflect on the experience and think about what I have learned during our stay here. There is one common theme that almost all of the activities we have done and lectures we have listened to have touched on, and that is Afro-Brazilian identity. Salvador, being the most African city outside of Africa, has a long history of Afro-Brazilian culture and resistance, which is reflected in various art forms, education, and community.
 
It is impossible to talk about Afro-Brazilian cultures and history without talking about art, music, and dance. During my time here, I have begun to understand how different arts forms are used to tell the story of ancestors, whether enslaved people in Brazil or ancestors from Africa, and promote the Afro-Brazilian identity. We had the opportunity to learn about many of these art forms, like percussion, capoeira, Afro-Brazilian dance, and graffiti. During our percussion workshop with Mario Pam, we talked a little bit about the history of percussion in Afro-Brazilian communities and the formation of African Blocks, or blocos de carnaval, in which Afro-Brazilians came together to create music and dance during Carnaval, but they were historically targeted by police. Osmundo Pinho, a social scientist at UFBA, says that “the image of the city of Salvador as a civilized and white city appeared threatened by the African presence” (Pinho 2020, 7). The white, Brazilian elites felt threatened by something as simple as music and dance. They went as far as banning “the display of African customs with drumming”, but there was no success (Pinho 2020, 7). Afro-Brazilian drumming has a history founded on resistance, and it is still of great importance to Afro-Brazilian identity and resistance in Salvador to this day.  

In “AmarElo – It’s All for Yesterday”, a Netflix documentary by Brazilian rapper Emicida, he walks us through the history of Afro-Brazilians through their music. It is symbolic as well, because he tells the story during one of his concerts at the Teatro Municipal de São Paulo, which was historically a place where black Brazilians were excluded. This concert was a way for Afro-Brazilians to take back a space they were historically excluded from (Ouro Preto 2020). For me, I see Afro-Brazilian music in Salvador in a similar way; Afro-Brazilians use music to form their identity and take their claim to spaces, both physical and societal, that they have historically been excluded from. Another Afro-Brazilian custom from Bahia is capoeira, which is a kind of fusion of martial art and dance. Capoeira was documented from as far back as 17th century Brazil and has been played in Afro-Brazilian communities as a form of resistance throughout Brazilian history (Pinho 2020, 6). Capoeira, like many other forms of Afro-Brazilians arts, was once banned, but regardless, it survived and was passed down from generation to generation and it remains a practice today. Similar to other Afro-Brazilian art forms, there is connection to Afro-Brazilian religions, like Candomblé, within these practices. Both came from enslaved Africans in Brazil and are unique to Brazilian culture, and both have been used to create community building spaces for black Brazilians, like the capoeira school or the Candomblé terreiros we visited. In the book Crooked Plow, the Jarê rituals, which is a religion similar to Candomblé, were accompanied by music and dancing, and when Zeca or other characters were mounted by orixás, they danced and sang (Vieira Junior 2019). Music and dance is so central to Afro-Brazilian identity that it plays a central role in things as important as religion. At the Balé Folclórico da Bahia, we were able to see many different practices of Afro-Brazilian culture, like capoeira, Candomblé, maculelê, and samba performed in one space using dance, drumming, and singing. It was a really impactful way to end off the trip and really allowed me to make connections about everything I was seeing and learning.
 
One last art form I want to talk about, that is much more contemporary than capoeira or drumming, is graffiti. We had the chance to visit Eder Muniz, who is a graffiti artist and tagger from Salvador. He shared with us some of his work, but also some background about graffiti and tagging and the social aspects of it as well. In a paper about “street youth” in Salvador, Marit Ursin, a sociologist at NTNU, talks about the negative connotations around street youth and how these connotations reinforce the social exclusion of these youth and continue to drive unequal structures of power (Ursin 2016). Eder talked a bit about this and said that in his case and the case of many others street artists, their art begins as a means of liberation and as a way of making themselves seen, by putting literal representations of themselves, in the form of tags, in their physical space. In a sense, tagging is about taking back their right to live and exist in their communities. Eder talked about using graffiti as a way of building community as well, and the importance of the community when making street art. He showed us some pieces around his community that he worked on, which were often accompanied by neighborhood parties or barbecues. Involving the community in the process of art is important in creating a piece that truly represents a community, but also that the community sees themselves represented in. These past three weeks in Salvador, we have had the opportunity to see and participate in all of these art forms, and I definitely have a new appreciation for art and music as a tool in resistance and building community.

Sources
Ouro Preto, Fred, director. 2020. Emicida AmarElo: It’s All for Yesterday. Netflix.

Pinho, Osmundo. “Race and Cultural Politics in Bahia.” In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American History, 2020.

Ursin, Marit. “Contradictory and Intersecting Patterns of Inclusion and Exclusion of Street Youth in Salvador, Brazil.” Social Inclusion 4, no. 4 (October 20, 2016): 39–50.
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Vieira Júnior, Itamar. 2019. Crooked Plow. National Geographic Books. 

By Lizbet Martinez and Fabian Venegas Ramos

On the day we are writing this, we have been in Bahia for 12 days. Through our educational program, we have learned about various topics related to race, gender, and inequality in Brazil including the education system, religion, and expansive history lessons. Some of our favorite lectures and experiences, however, have been centered on music and dance. These two mediums are more than just entertainment, but cultural ways of being, building community, and (re)connecting to ancestral roots. It has been an energizing and empowering experience to engage and interact with various cultural forms of dance and music unique to Brazil.

On the evening of our first full day in Bahia, we had a capoeira workshop with Mestre Sapoti. Capoeira is a Brazilian martial art that combines elements of dance, movement, and music. Mestre Sapoti discussed the origins of capoeira and how it came from the enslaved Africans in Brazil and was used as a form of self-defense disguised as dance. We learned how to do the ginga, the basic step, as well as a few offensive and defensive moves. We also learned about the musical instruments used to play the music for capoeira and the call and response songs that people sing. It was emphasized that people do not fight capoeira, but it is something that is played. It remains a very important part of Afro-Brazilian tradition and can be seen in the streets just about anywhere in Bahia. The workshop was a great way for us to dive into Brazilian culture.

We also had the incredible opportunity of learning Afro-Brazilian dance with Antonio Cozido, creator of Swing Afro Baiano. His zealous attitude, cheerful chants, and words of wisdom created an unforgettable experience for us both, one that we have been looking forward to since the start of the course on campus. To begin the dancing workshop, we did some grounding exercises to connect to our body’s five senses and to connect with our surrounding environment. He also re-introduced us to a Yoruba word used in Candomblé religion – Axé, which means “energy.” “AXÉ! AXÉ! AXÉ!” echoed throughout the room as we all chanted together several times throughout the workshop to reinvigorate each other’s energy. We learned how to dance Samba, Folha, and other dances that are popular in Brazil. The dances were all distinct from one another; some were easier to remember, some sensual and slow, and others upbeat and fast-paced.

Samba, more specifically, is a Brazilian dance that is considered one of the most representative elements of Brazilian culture. Compared to other dance styles, Samba was a unique and fun dance to learn. The emergence and spread of Samba in the 1920s was a popular sensation and in the 30s fused with carnaval, becoming emblematic of Brazil’s cultural identity. Samba was distinctly used to enhance a national identity and connect the regions of Brazil, which at the time were developing their own unique and competing music sounds. The most influential radio station of Brazil in the 1940s—Rádio Nacional, for example, “promoted the song heavily, and openly declared samba and its sentiments as the core of national identity” (Eakin 2017, p. 204). Together, popular media and the state pushed Samba as a cultural piece that would build bridges between cultural groups and create the Brazilian people.

Like samba, another essential aspect of Brazilian culture is the carnaval. We were able to visit the Casa do Carnaval museum in Bahia to learn about the importance of carnaval in Brazil. As Eakin explains, carnaval “emerged in the 1930s and 1940s as the principal ritual showcasing the Freyrean vision…it became the most holy ritual of mestiço nationalism and the celebration of mestiçagem” (2017, 204). It is a ritual and national festivity that comes from European roots but is grounded in various Brazilian (particularly afro-Brazilian) traditions. At the museum we got to see colorful costumes, did an interactive dance experience, and saw how carnaval brings all people together. 

Similarly, music had an instrumental role in creating the national identity of Brazil that is known today. The rise in popular music contributed to ethnic mixing for indigenous, African, and Portuguese people, allowing various styles to form, interact, and fuse with each other. Eakin (2017) states, “The cultural arena provided Brazilians opportunities for participation and belonging that were not open to them in the political arena, especially during the years of dictatorship” (p. 202). This highlights how popular music was fundamental for Brazilian culture and citizenship because it created space for Brazilians of different groups, particularly those existing in the margins, to engage with its production and consumption. This was demonstrated in the Percussion Workshop we had with Mario Pam. We saw and learned to play instruments with either indigenous roots, African roots, or European roots. These different instruments became used by other cultural groups to create and influence new music forms. This allowed different cultures to be represented and be part of an “imagined community.”

Our unique experience has demonstrated to us that inequality and racial injustice is prevalent in every aspect of life in Brazil. We see it very clearly in the arts that are often rooted in afro-Brazilian culture and are used as a means to fight back against discrimination and injustice. From capoeira to samba to carnaval, people are taking up space and keeping traditions alive. The arts experiences that we have been fortunate enough to have gone through have not only taught us about the issues, but we were fully immersed in experiencing the response to those issues. We know we will take with us the understanding and skills we learned, and we hope to be able to spread the wisdom, strength, and passion we acquired through the workshops and lectures.
 
Eakin, Marshall C. 2017. “The Sounds of Cultural Citizenship.” Chapter. In Becoming                  Brazilians: Race and National Identity in Twentieth Century Brazil. 200–219. New      Approaches to the Americas. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Welcome to the third blog post about Brazil in preparation to our trip in May 2020. This post I will share one interesting CNN segment that I saw this week and a podcast that I really like when it comes to understanding Brazilian politics and society. First, the CNN segment: it was a brief report on cachaça, Brazil's spirit. People always asks me what is the difference between rum and cachaça and I never knew how to explain it, this article helped me with that. This segment also reminded me of a Timbalada song called "Cachaça". The kind of music Timbalada plays is very much the soul of Bahia and Salvador. We will visit percussion schools and have classes that mirror their music style.

I have been meaning to post about Explaining Brazil for a couple of weeks. This is a great resource produced by phenomenal reporters, dealing with many issues. I will post a link to the podcast on Sticher (here) but you can find in any podcast aggregator. Below I share links to the episodes that relate directly to our course themes.

• How Lula's story explain Brazil
• Marvel's "gay kiss" controversy
• Brazil's prison wars 
• Discovering Little Africa in Rio de Janeiro (we are not going there, but this episode is really good)
• Being LGBT in Bolsonaro's Brazil and LGBT inclusion in Brazil
• Two episodes about Marielle Franco's assassination (links here and here)
• The business of carnaval in Rio
• Brazil's war on drugs
• Racism in soccer (this is also a really good episode)
• Abortion rights in Brazil
• The return of certain diseases in Brazil

This gives you a lot of interesting and easy to access information about Brazil. If you are already into podcasts, just add this one to your list!

WHAT I AM LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW: Elza Soares- A Carne

This is my first post sharing interesting links that can help you understand more about Brazil. First, some fun news from Salvador, where we will spend most of our time in May of 2020. This year a large shopping mall in the city hired its first Black Santa. Even though the city is over 80% black or of mixed descent, this is the first time a mall decided to change the perspective of what it means to be Santa. Here is a link to the news from a Brazilian website. This was the only link I found in English.

Below I will now share two videos. The first is a classic video from PBS and Henry Louis Gates Jr. that is part of his Black in Latin America series. The episode on Brazil does a good job at showing some of the basic issues with the idea of racial democracy in Brazil.

The second video is an interesting video posted by the Chinese Global Television Network (CGTN), posted in May of 2019, about the city of Salvador and the African roots in the city. This video provides students going a glimpse of what you will see in May of 2020. 

I will keep adding more videos, podcasts, and newspaper articles that I find about Brazil. If you happen to find something interesting, please share with me on Twitter, down here in the comments section, or via email.

WHAT I AM LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW: BaianaSystem and Tropkillaz- Saci (Remix)
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