Brazil – a melting pot, not a salad.
This post follows on from my previous post in which I waffled about that Suárez/Evra incident and then waffled some more on the subject of language related to race in Brazil. Now I want to continue in my Belgian breakfast-style discussion by telling you a little more about some things I’ve noticed in relation to race here in Brazil.
The races in Brazil have mixed far more thoroughly than in Britain. Six months ago I attended a big get together of my mother-in-law’s family. There must have been at least 100 people there and I was struck by the variation in skin colour and features – there were some very black people, some very white people and every colour in between.
Figures from the 2010 census indicating the distribution of race (people were asked how they would describe themselves). Amarela, “yellow” in portuguese, is a term for people of East Asian origin apparently; Parda is a mix that covered both Morena and Mulata; Indígena means indigenous (Amerindian).
I’m sure this mixing is at least partly due to the length of time that people of African and European origin have been living alongside each other in Brazil. By contrast, the majority of black people living in the UK have their origins from a wave of immigration from the West Indies that started in the late 1940s (often referred to as the Windrush generation). My wife tells me that her old geography teacher used to say:
“Brazil is a true melting pot – the US is a salad.”
It’s a good metaphor isn’t it? I would say that the UK is more salad than melting pot too – of course there has been some ‘melting’, but not much when compared to Brazil.
It’s nice to imagine that this mixing means that there is a true racial democracy in Brazil and that racism doesn’t exist here. And for many years, that was the official line. Yet a quick glance at the nation’s wealth distribution vs race casts doubt on that. A disproportionate number of people in the lowest income bracket are black; the Brazilian prison population is disproportionately black; at the anecdotal level, almost everyone I see sweeping the streets and collecting rubbish is black.
Fernando Henrique Cardoso, also known as FHC, wearing the presidential sash.
Brazil’s president from 1995-2002, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, also happened to be an accomplished sociologist and during his tenure, Brazil finally admitted that it had a problem. Various forms of affirmative action and quotas were introduced in an attempt to combat the racial inequalities. As you can imagine, it’s a topic that sparked a lot of discussion and controversy. I haven’t done enough reading to assess how successful these efforts have been but I’d be interested to hear your views.
Much of the thinking behind these affirmative action schemes appears to be tied up with multiculturalism and I’m interested to see how that works out here in Brazil. Coming from London, where almost half of all the UK’s ethnic minorities live, I am very used to living in an environment where people generally accept that minorities and recent immigrants will have starkly different cultures to the more established population.
But here in Brazil I have at times been quite surprised by people’s frustration with, for example, a perception that the Chinese community keep themselves to themselves and don’t make an effort to learn Portuguese. I’ve also heard objections to Orthodox Jews “forcing their children to wear those hot clothes” in the height of summer. When I’ve questioned this, the answer I usually get is “But we all mix here in Brazil! This is our way – why do they keep themselves separate?”.
I find it especially interesting as, after the 2005 London bombings, many people started to ask if we had been too accepting of everyone’s differences and perhaps we should encourage immigrants to integrate more thoroughly and make more of an effort to be ‘British’.
These are big questions and a I’m just thinking aloud really – a lot of this is based on my own personal experiences/interpretations and I don’t want anyone to think that I’m passing judgement on the people of Brazil or anything like that. I’d like to learn more, but it’s hard to find the time to do the in-depth reading required – after all, I’ve got Portuguese to learn! Oh yeah, and a blog to write! (see? It’s your fault!).
I think I know what you mean by the difference in multi-culturalism in the UK (maybe I should say London) and in Brazil. Just to pick a few random examples, in the UK you will see Sikh men using very traditional turbans and women Islamic women wearing burkhas. In Brazil, on the other hand, you see a lot less traditional ethnic clothes and Japanese descendents typically have Brazilian first names. You could say the minorities appear more “authentic” in the UK and more Brazilian in Brazil.
I was thinking about this the other day and I wonder if it has to do with the length of time that the immigrants have settled in their new country. Related to that, it feels like a lot of minorities come to London to live for some time but without losing the links with where they came from. In Brazil it seems like most of them moved in true immigrant style: to set up a new life for good in the new country and therefore less attached to their old customs.
I think you’ve hit the nail on the head Andrew. I think London in particular has a far wider variety of immigrant communities. To back-up what you say, my wife was fascinated the first time we went to London – so many different, exotic looking clothes.
I remember a while back, people were looking at these issues and found that, for example, many 3rd generation British/Indian kids would still call themselves Indian before British and would support the Indian cricket team over England. I’m not really sure why that is exactly (or even how widespread that attitude is). One possible explanation is that if the people of your host country treat you like an outsider, then you tend to isolate, rather than integrate.
Maybe, over the years, Brazilian society has been more inviting and inclusive, whereas British society has had a tendency to allow people in without really accepting them as British. I think that attitude has changed a lot over the last 20 years, but it can take a long time for the results to trickle down.
And of course, not everyone wants to integrate! Look at the bands of expats across the world who huddle together in exclusive clubs and dreaming of ‘home’! :)
Oi,
Eu acho que uma das explicações é o tempo em que os imigrantes estão no Brasil, conheço muitas histórias de familias japonesas que cortaram relações com filhos e filhas porque eles se casaram com “brasileiros”. Até algum tempo atrás os descendentes de japoneses no Brasil se consideram japoneses (um exemplo é a história dos “Corações sujos” no interior de São Paulo), a partir de umas duas gerações até hoje é que os japoneses passaram a aceitar melhor os casamentos “mistos”.
Os chineses e coreanos não se integram muito, mas se você for para São Paulo, você vai perceber que isso esta mudando bastante, não faltam exemplos de descendentes de japoneses casados com descendentes de chineses, etc.
Oi Elaine,
Tenho certeza que você está certa – tempo pode corrigir muitas coisas e quebrar barreiras. Não vi Carações Sugos, mais ja vi o ‘trailer’ – parece interessante!
“(…) and perhaps we should encourage immigrants to integrate more thoroughly and make more of an effort to be ‘British’. ” Good piece of advice Tom ! Really ? This made me think of “Goodness Gracious Me !” Remember that show ?
Hi Ana, I’m not sure that I follow you here. This isn’t “advice” (and certainly isn’t my advice!) – it’s just a fact that ‘people’ (the press, politicians, think-tanks, etc) reexamined the multicultural model after the bombings, partly to try to understand if the policies of the past 20-30 years had led minorities to feel excluded from society as a whole (because all 4 of the bombers were born and grew up in England).
There was a lot of soul-searching and looking at how other countries ‘do’ immigration. I believe that some countries require an oath of allegiance, others don’t.
Personally I love the diversity of cities like London, Melbourne, New York and in that respect I wish Rio was a little richer
I meant to add, I do remember Goodness Gracious Me – the Kupoors who became the Coopers! Jokes that could only be made by the people who were the butt of the joke :)
Yeah, apparently Japanese and German immigrants were sent to detention camps in Brazil during the 2nd World War to stop them engaging in “subversive” activities. All in all, I don’t think it’s easy for any immigrant to integrate into a new society and maybe time is really the only cure.
There’s also another difference related to developing vs. developed nation. In Brazil, people seem more open to looking abroad for better ideas whereas in developed nations, it’s easier for people to feel like they already have all the answers and there’s no need to look any further. As a very silly example, the UK has an electrical plug standard that is (how can I say it politely?) unique while Brazil used to have a very pragmatic one that worked for both American and European plugs. (Is the new Brazilian electrical plug a sign that Brazil wants to move into the developed nation camp?)
Ha ha! Funny that you mentioned plugs – did you see my moan/rant about the plugs in Brazil? As you say, I like the old style plugs that handle the round and flat pins – the new ones drive me crazy!
As for UK plugs, they are a thing of beauty! And I have to tell you that the UK plug is also used in such great states at Malta, Cyprus and Hong Kong! rs ;) When I was ‘researching’ my plug post I found this rather amusing quote about the UK plug:
“British plugs are no doubt the safest in the world [TLM: Brits stop reading now], but also the most hulking and cumbersome. That’s why people often make fun of them saying that British plugs are mostly bigger than the appliance they’re connected to…”
Yes, a single UK plug could safely handle all the power supply of CERN but the matchstick picture is just priceless! Extremes, extremes…
I know of this one English immigrant who prefers to plant Habaneros instead of native Malaguetas. Yes: I am thinking lynch mob as well.
This is a tolerant nation though, so let’s give him some time :-)
Regarding salad verses melting pot I think the new world has always runned on automatic assimilation mode while Europe seems to, by nature, follow the multicultural way. It has been argued that multiculturalism is unsustainable in the long run because conflict will arise due to the desire of younger immigrants to assimilate and their host societies inability to do so. These guys end up being caught between traditional garments and behavior they can’t relate to, and the core of a society which they want to join, but won’t completely let them in.
Assimilation, on the other hand, avoids this; however, while it does absorb a few new customs from the group being assimilated, overall it disregards most of their heritage. Hence the lack of Habaneros in your future grandson’s herb garden ( if the herb garden: botany – an English hobby – is passed down at all).
Btw my translator is on vacation, so humn, waffled eh . . .
Ha ha! Regarding my bias towards Habaneros, I do plan to integrate soon. I have a dream that one day Habaneros and Malaguetas can live alongside each other in the same window box. It’s a beautiful vision don’t you think?
I think there’s a certain amount of damned if you do, damned if you don’t about assimilation vs multiculturalism. It seems like there are good and bad aspects to both approaches. Like I said earlier, my favourite cities in the world are the ones that have many diverse immigrant communities – life is far more interesting when everyone isn’t the same.
p.s. Any future generations who turn their backs on the herb garden tradition will be banished and disowned! ;)
Tom,
darei um outro enfoque a essa questão.
Eu acho que para entender a integração dos grupos imigratórios no Brasil, é necessário lembrar a origem do país.
Os portugueses vieram principalmente para EXPLORAR, e não colonizar esta terra do novo mundo, com suas respectivas famílias portuguesas. Aqueles primeiros exploradores vieram para extrair pau- brasil, ouro, diamante, e outras coisas de valor; e eram aventureiros, mercenários, soldados, religiosos ou até criminosos, ou seja, eles não vinham constituir família.
Foram essas pessoas que iniciaram a mestiçagem deste país; primeiramente se relacionando com as mulheres indígenas e posteriormente com as mulheres negras, COMO SE NÃO HOUVESSE PECADO ABAIXO DA LINHA DO EQUADOR( às vezes eu penso que esse sentimento dura até hoje haha).
Esses 3 povos – português, indígena e negro – formam o tripé do povo brasileiro, todas as demais correntes de imigrantes foram sendo incorporadas, misturadas a essa base inicial. Essa história é bem diferente de colonização americana ou australiana, acredito eu.
Por ser um pouco o “quintal recreativo” do mundo é possível ver japonês casando com chinês, ou judeu casando com libanês ( eu já vi !), no Brasil.
E esses fatores contribuiram para formar no subconsciente coletivo do Brasil a crença, a mentalidade e até um certo sentimento de orgulho, de que as outras culturas que aqui chegam são “abrasileiradas” com tempo.
É quase obrigatório esse “abrasileiramento”, como se fosse uma lei invisível. Talvez seja por isso motivo, a sua percepção de que deveria ser mais rica a diversidade, ou seja, não deveria ser tão “homogêneo”.
Até breve!
Oi Rose!
Que interessante! Ouvi isso de minha esposa (originalmente, eles vinham para explorar, não para morar) – cria uma atitude diferente né?
Acho que se todo mundo pudessem misturar felizmente, mas manter identidade da cultura, tudo vai ser ótimo!
Abraço, Tom
Perfect Analogy!
Brazil really is a true melting pot, much more so than the USA. Of course there are still divisions in Brazil but I think they are less to do with race and more to do with class. One thing that can’t be ignored though is the fact that most upper class Brazilians are in fact Brancos. I don’t think there are very many “miseraveis” who are white.
Racism exists everywhere! =(
Alex
Hey Alex, it is a great analogy isn’t it? I wish my geography teacher had been that cool/interesting.
It’s a really complicated situation here I think. There are times that skin colour seems utterly irrelevant and of course that’s a very seductive idea. But the reality suggests a very different picture, for example, pretty much everyone I see living on the street is black.
Nevertheless, I love the Brazilian mix and, thinking of my stomach again, it makes for some good eatin’! :D
Alex,
Tem muitos miseráveis brancos sim, é obvio que existem mais miseraveis negros, graças a maneira como os negros foram tratados após a abolição e pelo racismo que ainda existe.
E no Brasil é bem dificil separar quem é branco e quem é negro. Eu nasci numa familia muito pobre (não miserável , graças a deus), e tenho a pele muito branca (tão branca quanto qualquer gringo), mas meu avô era negro, tenho muitos tios e primos negros. Se fosse considerar minha ascendência eu deveria ser considerada parda, mas em qualquer censo, os censores dizem que eu sou branca.
Tom,
Brazil really is a melting pot. When I was in highschool Whites were 58% of the population, and there were more Blacks too, the natural trend is more and more “Pardos”! Which is good, it’s a known fact that people of mixed race have a stronger genetic pool and are less prone to develop all kinds of health issues.
Interesting fact is that during Brazil’s Imperial days, the Portuguese Royal family instituted an official policy to “Whitten” the population, which in those days was heavily African.
It worked, they brought enough European colonizers to tip the scale and make Whites the majority, and now people are mixing and turning Pardo :)
Ray
I guess that on a global scale, with everyone moving around so much, the general trend must be towards pardo. On a practical level, it means that we won’t have to spend so much on sun-block right? :)
Tom: When you’re back in England try to find a copy of Larry Rohter’s book, “Brazil on the Rise” – great read that tackles a lot of the issues you touch on, including race.
http://www.amazon.ca/Brazil-Rise-Story-Country-Transformed/dp/0230618871
Hey Brae, thanks for that – the longer I go on writing this blog, the more I realise that I need to read up on Brazil’s past (and present). I will definitely get myself a copy of this when I’m back. My wife just finished reading FHC`s book “The Accidental President of Brazil” (he wrote in English would you believe?!) so that’s on my reading list too!
I’ve read that one too! It’s a good one. It’s funny… I didn’t really start to read about Brazil seriously until after my 3rd time there and now I read anything I can get my hand on re. history and culture. It’s hard to find books on Brazilian culture/customs that aren’t super dated though. The book I recommended though is awesome b/c I believe it was published in ’10 and it touches on the history, arts, race, energy, food, you name it… I found myself constantly shaking my head and saying, “Now I understand” or “I didn’t know that – makes sense” – just gave me a better appreciation of the country overall :)
Oh dear, you`re putting me to shame Brae! ;) I had better get reading!!