Becoming Brazilians

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.

Author: Marshall C. Eakin
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 07/25/2017
Pages: 343
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.06lbs
Size: 9.15h x 6.40w x 0.81d
ISBN: 9781316626009

Review Citation(s):
Choice 03/01/2018

About the Author
Eakin, Marshall C.: - 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.