This book examines how Gilberto Freyre's notion of mestiçagem (race mixing) became the overwhelmingly dominant narrative of national identity in twentieth-century Brazil. It will be of interest to scholars and students interested in Brazil, Latin America, race, nationalism, national identity, and popular culture.

This book traces the rise and decline of Gilberto Freyre's vision of racial and cultural mixture (mestiçagem - or race mixing) as the defining feature of Brazilian culture in the twentieth century. Eakin traces how mestiçagem moved from a conversation among a small group of intellectuals to become the dominant feature of Brazilian national identity, demonstrating how diverse Brazilians embraced mestiçagem, via popular music, film and television, literature, soccer, and protest movements. The Freyrean vision of the unity of Brazilians built on mestiçagem begins a gradual decline in the 1980s with the emergence of an identity politics stressing racial differences and multiculturalism. The book combines intellectual history, sociological and anthropological field work, political science, and cultural studies for a wide-ranging analysis of how Brazilians - across social classes - became Brazilians.

Being a gringo in Brazil is terrific! Are you planning on visiting or working in Brazil? Becoming Brazilian will guide you through the intricacy of Brazilian culture and give you a deeper understanding of the country. Brazilians are a warm and optimistic people, who welcome foreigners. This book will help you interact with Brazilians to make your visit more memorable or your business trip more productive. The first part of the book covers cross cultural differences that will aid the reader to navigate both social and business interactions. Brazil is a rich mix of cultures and regions. This book explains the regional differences in Brazil though its celebrations, beliefs, customs, and gastronomy. Becoming Brazilian focuses on the history and themes of major topics of Brazilian life. Brazil is the only country in the western hemisphere to have been united under a monarchy. Today's major issues in Brazil are rooted in this unique history. Becoming Brazilian is not a tour guide nor a travel guide. Becoming Brazilian is a guide for living and interacting with Brazilians to give the reader a deeper experience during their time in this great country.

Brazilians in the United States are a relatively new wave of immigrants from South America. This volume offers a broad-ranging discussion of an understudied population and also brings insights into the core issues of immigration research: how immigration can complicate issues of social class, race, and ethnicity, how it intersects with the educational system, and how it fits into the assimilation paradigm.

Every year, countless young adults from affluent, Western nations travel to Brazil to train in capoeira, the dance/martial art form that is one of the most visible strands of the Afro-Brazilian cultural tradition. In Search of Legitimacy explores why “first world” men and women leave behind their jobs, families, and friends to pursue a strenuous training regimen in a historically disparaged and marginalized practice. Using the concept of apprenticeship pilgrimage—studying with a local master at a historical point of origin—the author examines how non-Brazilian capoeiristas learn their art and claim legitimacy while navigating the complexities of wealth disparity, racial discrimination, and cultural appropriation.

Your job is gone, your engagement is off, and your severance package will end soon. What else can you do? Start packing. Don't forget to bring a beach read! When stressed-out, twenty-six-year-old Julia Cordeiro watches her job on Wall Street implode on the same day she gets dumped by her fiancé, she makes a spontaneous decision to escape to a sleepy fishing village one hour from Florianópolis in southern Brazil before she also loses her mind. The relaxed atmosphere of Santa Marta is completely contrary to the intensity of New York City, and Julia blissfully doesn't know a soul in the rugged coastal town -- it's exactly the kind of place she needs in order to reinvent herself. But Julia doesn't quite know who she wants to be. Through a series of romantic foibles and cultural mishaps in her adopted home, Julia learns the hard way how to finally differentiate between love and lust, relationships and one-night stands. Along the way, she meets an array of unusual characters who become her unlikely friends: a young boy with a presidential name, an older Chilean man, a disgruntled office worker from London, an attractive Brazilian innkeeper, a Finnish traveler with rock-star magnetism, a local transsexual and expert in feminine charm, and a too-young-to-be-any-good-for-her surfer. Each new encounter challenges Julia's ideals, exposes her weaknesses, and forces her to question her values. Quite possibly, Santa Marta will be the one place where Julia finally gets it right.

After decades of denying racism and underplaying cultural diversity, Latin American states began adopting transformative ethno-racial legislation in the late 1980s. In addition to symbolic recognition of indigenous peoples and black populations, governments in the region created a more pluralistic model of citizenship and made significant reforms in the areas of land, health, education, and development policy. Becoming Black Political Subjects explores this shift from color blindness to ethno-racial legislation in two of the most important cases in the region: Colombia and Brazil. Drawing on archival and ethnographic research, Tianna Paschel shows how, over a short period, black movements and their claims went from being marginalized to become institutionalized into the law, state bureaucracies, and mainstream politics. The strategic actions of a small group of black activists—working in the context of domestic unrest and the international community's growing interest in ethno-racial issues—successfully brought about change. Paschel also examines the consequences of these reforms, including the institutionalization of certain ideas of blackness, the reconfiguration of black movement organizations, and the unmaking of black rights in the face of reactionary movements. Becoming Black Political Subjects offers important insights into the changing landscape of race and Latin American politics and provokes readers to adopt a more transnational and flexible understanding of social movements.