{"id":20762,"date":"2012-02-18T22:04:52","date_gmt":"2012-02-18T22:04:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/wordpress\/?p=20762"},"modified":"2013-07-12T01:01:53","modified_gmt":"2013-07-12T01:01:53","slug":"performing-mulata-ness-the-politics-of-cultural-authenticity-and-sexuality-among-carioca-samba-dancers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=20762","title":{"rendered":"Performing Mulata-ness: The Politics of Cultural Authenticity and Sexuality among Carioca Samba Dancers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Performing Mulata-ness: The Politics of Cultural Authenticity and Sexuality among Carioca Samba Dancers<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Latin American Perspectives<\/a>
\nVolume 39, Number 2<\/a> (March 2012)
\npages 113-133
\nDOI: 10.1177\/0094582X11430049<\/a><\/p>\n

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

In Rio de Janeiro<\/a>, mulatas<\/a><\/em>\u2014brown-skinned women of mixed racial descent who dance the samba<\/a> in Carnival<\/a> parades and in nightclubs\u2014have become multifocal symbols eliciting associations that resonate both with colonial morality and with mesti\u00e7agem<\/em>, the narrative of racial and cultural mixing as a cornerstone of nationhood. Because of these associations, a dangerous border crossing takes place whenever they dance the samba in public: they may become icons of nationhood, but this may call into question their moral standing. Women who occupy this subject position attempt to maintain a modicum of respectability as they manipulate the objectifying gaze of Brazilians and foreigners to the best of their ability. They also attempt to portray their dance skills as culturally \u201cauthentic\u201d in the search for legitimacy and racial pride. Ultimately, samba is a stage upon which the economic needs, embodied desires, and ethnic identities of Brazilian women clash and collude with the neo-colonial dreams of tourists and cosmopolitans.<\/p>\n

Na cidade do Rio de Janeiro, as mulatas\u2014mulheres de ascend\u00eancia racial misturada que dan\u00e7am o samba nos desfiles de carnaval e nas boites\u2014se tornaram s\u00edmbolos polivalentes que evocam associa\u00e7\u00f5es ressonantes com a moralidade colonial e com o discurso da mesti\u00e7agem (mistura racial e cultural) comofundamento da brasilidade. Por causa destas associa\u00e7\u00f5es, elas negociam um espa\u00e7o perigoso cada vez que sambam em p\u00fablico: podem tornar-se s\u00edmbolos da na\u00e7\u00e3o, mas isto pode gerar d\u00favidas sobre a sua reputa\u00e7\u00e3o moral. As mulheres nesta posi\u00e7\u00e3o social tentam manter um m\u00ednimo de respeito social atrav\u00e9s da manipula\u00e7\u00e3o dos olhares brasileiros e estrangeiros que as reificam. Em busca de legitimidade e orgulho racial, elas procuram definir suas habilidades art\u00edsticas comoculturalmente \u201caut\u00eanticas.\u201d Por fim, o samba \u00e9 um palco onde as necessidades econ\u00f4micas, os desejos encarnados e as identidades \u00e9tnicas da mulher brasileira se embatem e conspiram com os sonhos neo-coloniais de turistas e cosmopolitas.<\/p>\n

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

Performing Mulata-ness: The Politics of Cultural Authenticity and Sexuality among Carioca Samba Dancers Latin American Perspectives Volume 39, Number 2 (March 2012) pages 113-133 DOI: 10.1177\/0094582X11430049 Natasha Pravaz, Associate Professor of Anthropology Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada In Rio de Janeiro, mulatas\u2014brown-skinned women of mixed racial descent who dance the samba in Carnival parades […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,24,83,21,1196,8,25],"tags":[9715,6724,6727],"class_list":["post-20762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-arts","category-brazil","category-latincarib","category-literary-criticism","category-media-archive","category-women","tag-latin-american-perspectives","tag-natasha-pravaz","tag-rio-de-janeiro"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20762","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=20762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20762\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}