{"id":14649,"date":"2011-07-02T01:14:05","date_gmt":"2011-07-02T01:14:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/wordpress\/?p=14649"},"modified":"2013-07-12T01:02:36","modified_gmt":"2013-07-12T01:02:36","slug":"hybridity-brazilian-style-samba-carnaval-and-the-myth-of-%e2%80%9cracial-democracy%e2%80%9d-in-rio-de-janeiro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=14649","title":{"rendered":"Hybridity Brazilian Style: Samba, Carnaval, and the Myth of \u201cRacial Democracy\u201d in Rio de Janeiro"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hybridity Brazilian Style: Samba, Carnaval, and the Myth of \u201cRacial Democracy\u201d in Rio de Janeiro<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Identities<\/a>
\nVolume 15, Issue 1<\/a> (2008)
\npages 80-102
\nDOI: 10.1080\/10702890701801841<\/a><\/p>\n

Natasha Pravaz<\/a><\/strong>, Associate Professor of Anthropology
\nWilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada<\/em><\/p>\n

Through ethnographic and historical inquiry, this article inspects the usefulness of the concept of hybridity for an analysis of Rio’s<\/a> samba<\/a> and carnaval<\/a>. If differentiated from mesti\u00e7agem<\/a><\/em>, the concept of hybridity can productively be put to use. The discourse on mesti\u00e7agem<\/em> is the basis for dominant narratives of national identity and celebrates samba and other Afro-Brazilian<\/a> cultural forms as symbols of Brazilianness and racial democracy. Such political use of culture was initiated by President Vargas’s<\/a> appropriation of subaltern performance genres in his populist project of modernity. At the same time, as expressions of Afro-Brazilian culture, samba and carnaval are contested performances; many celebrate the \u201cracially democratic\u201d character of samba spaces as a core domain of Afro-Brazilian sociability. This article traces the roots of samba and carnaval in Rio de Janeiro and examines their current import for a politics of identity by drawing from interviews and fieldwork at escola de samba<\/a> Unidos da Cereja. The article stresses the methodological importance of addressing multiple practices and voices emerging in the context of samba performances. The concept of hybridity can thus describe Afro-Brazilians’ use of culture in the negotiation of power imbalances and alternative values.<\/p>\n

Read or purchase the article here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hybridity Brazilian Style: Samba, Carnaval, and the Myth of \u201cRacial Democracy\u201d in Rio de Janeiro Identities Volume 15, Issue 1 (2008) pages 80-102 DOI: 10.1080\/10702890701801841 Natasha Pravaz, Associate Professor of Anthropology Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada Through ethnographic and historical inquiry, this article inspects the usefulness of the concept of hybridity for an analysis […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1649,12,21,8,394],"tags":[6725,6729,6724,6727,6726],"class_list":["post-14649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anthropology","category-articles","category-latincarib","category-media-archive","category-socialscience","tag-dance","tag-identities","tag-natasha-pravaz","tag-rio-de-janeiro","tag-samba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14649\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}