Becoming Brazilians (New Approaches to the Americas) - Softcover

Eakin, Marshall C.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1316626008 ISBN 13: 9781316626009

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2017

Synopsis

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.

About this title

Book Description:

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.

About the Author:

Marshall C. Eakin is Professor of History at Vanderbilt University, Tennessee. A specialist in modern Brazilian history, he is the author of four books including The History of Latin America: Collision of Cultures (2007). He co-edited Envisioning Brazil: A Guide to Brazilian Studies in the United States (2005), with Paulo Roberto de Almeida.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1316626008
• ISBN 13: 9781316626009
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 346