Book

Negroes in Brazil

Southern Illinois University PressCarbondale • Published In 1967 • Pages: lxxxiii, 420

By: Pierson, Donald, Lantz, Herman R..

Abstract
This work is a 'classic' study of race relations and culture contact in Brazil, specifically in the seaport town of Bahia (Salvador), where the author spent twenty-two out of his twenty-four month's total fieldwork time. The study, which was first published in 1942, went out of print after only a few impressions, and it was not until 1967 that it was republished. This present edition had been updated with new material including a new introduction by the author in which he reanalyzes his original work in terms of the events which have transpired since the first edition and integrating into it data gathered from other scholarly publications. This introduction now includes the author's analysis of the difference between prejudice and discrimination. Also included in this revised edition is a complete glossary and additional supplementary bibliographies. The source begins with a description of the seaport of Bahia, and then proceeds with a penetrating discussion of the racial history and cultural contact of its inhabitants, including data on the introduction of Africans to Brazil as slaves, their eventual assimilation, intermarriage, and status in the society, the preservation of certain aspects of the African heritage to the present-day, as evidenced by the CANDOMBLé or cult groups, and the Bahian racial situation as it stands today. Although the racial situation in Brazil and the United States is compared and contrasted throughout the book, the situation in Brazil is more complex, as noted for example in the use of such terms as 'preto' and 'branco' which cannot be equated to 'Negro' and 'White' as they are used in the United States since they are considered to be categories of social position as well as related to physical appearance (rather than race), and which terms vary not only with individuals but also with the same individual at different times. Social status in Brazil, therefore, is determined by an individual's competence rather than ethnic origin, and a Brazilian's loyalty is not to his race but to his country. This situation conrasts strongly to that in the United States where color and race are the determining factors of one's loyalties, and where persons of one race are expected to feel a mutual bond to one another. Where prejudice exists in Brazil it is class oriented, rather than based on race or color.
Subjects
Slavery
Ethnic stratification
History
Classes
Occupational specialization
Congregations
Organized ceremonial
Ethnosociology
culture
Bahia Brazilians
HRAF PubDate
1999
Region
South America
Sub Region
Eastern South America
Document Type
Book
Evaluation
Creator Type
Sociologist
Document Rating
4: Excellent Secondary Data
5: Excellent Primary Data
Analyst
John Beierle ; 1969-1970, 1998
Field Date
1935-1937
Coverage Date
1500 - 1950
Coverage Place
Town of Bahia (Salvador), State of Bahia, Brazil
Notes
Donald Pierson ; foreword by Herman R. Lantz
Includes bibliographical references and index
LCCN
66015058
LCSH
Bahia (Brazil : State)