The Sorcery of Color: Identity, Race, and Gender in Brazil

337 Pages·2006·0.85 MB·English

by  Elisa Larkin Nascimento

THE SORCERY OF COLOR

E L I S A L A R K I N N A S C I M E N T O
T S
HE ORCERY
C
OF OLOR
Identity, Race, and
Gender in Brazil
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Philadelphia
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY PRESS
1601 North Broad Street
Philadelphia PA 19122
www.temple.edu/tempress
English translation copyright © 2007 by Elisa Larkin Nascimento
All rights reserved
English translation published 2007
Printed in United States of America
Originally published in Portuguese by Selo Negro as OSortilégio
da Cor: Identidade , Raça e Gênero no Brasil
Copyright © 2003 by Elisa Larkin Nascimento
Title page illustration:
Abdias Nascimento, Opachorô de Oxalá.Nankin ink on paper,
15 x 20 cm. Buffalo, 1979.
The paper used in this publication meets the requirements
of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—
Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials,
ANSI Z39.48-1992
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Nascimento, Elisa Larkin.
[O sortilegio da cor.English]
The sorcery of color : identity, race, and gender in Brazil / Elisa
Larkin Nascimento.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 10: 1–59213–350–9 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN 13: 978–1–59213–350–5 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Blacks—Brazil—Social conditions. 2. Blacks—Brazil—
Politics and government. 3. Racism—Brazil. 4. Sexism—Brazil.
5. Brazil—Race relations. I. Title.
F2659.N4N38513 2006
305.800981—dc22
2006010402
2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1
Idedicate this book to my parents
Margaret Joseph Larkin
Daniel Irving Larkin (in memoriam)
Joanne Kryder Larkin (in memoriam)
And to my son
Osiris Kwesi
Graciliano Ramos ... formulated a basic postulate of
contemporary philosophy according to which, when we
voluntarily identify with what conditions us, we turn
narrowness into depth.
—GUERREIRORAMOS1
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments viii
Foreword by Kabengele Munanga x
Introduction 1
1
Identity, Race, and Gender 9
2
Brazil and the Making of Virtual Whiteness 42
3
Constructing and Deconstructing the “Crazy Creole” 75
4
Another History: Afro-Brazilian Agency 120
(São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, 1914–1960)
5
The Black Experimental Theater: Plots, Texts, and Actors 164
6
Concluding Remarks: The Priority of Education 227
Notes 241
List of Abbreviations 283
Glossary of Brazilian Words 287
Bibliographical Note to the English Edition 291
SelectedBibliography 295
Index 317
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
M
ANY PEOPLE supported and encouraged the making of
this book. In the first place, I thank Ronilda Ribeiro, my
PhD advisor at the University of São Paulo Institute of
Psychology, and José Flávio Pessoa de Barros, founder of
the African and Afro-American Studies Program at Rio de Janeiro State
University, as well as Professors Anani Dzidzienyo of Brown University, J.
Michael Turner of Hunter College, CUNY, Angela Gilliam, Carlos Moore,
Edith Piza, Miriam Expedita Caetano, and Vilma do Couto e Silva.
Special thanks to Cláudia Moraes Rego for the rich dialogue that con-
tributed enormously to the making of this text; to Carlos Alberto Medeiros
for revising part of the Portuguese original; and to Osiris Kwesi Larkin
Nascimento for support with editing and orthography. Thanks to Carlos
Henrique Bemfica for his assistance with bibliographical data.
Thanks also to Vanda Maria de Souza Ferreira, Dulce Vasconcellos,
Dandara, Conceição Evaristo, Jurema Agostinho Nunes, Néia Daniel de
Alcântara, Carmen Luz, Cida Bento, Maria Lúcia da Silva, and Marilza de
Souza Martins for their time and the interviews they generously gave me.
For their competence and spirit of collaboration, I am grateful to
Helena Rodrigues de Souza and Rosinê Cruz.
To Sebastião Lúcio da Silva (in memoriam), my thanks for his eter-
nal good nature and infallible willingness to help.
acknowledgments |ix
A special tribute to Afonnso Drumond, an extraordinary human being
and man of culture, for the talent and axé his partnership has brought to
IPEAFRO’s projects and destiny.
Dreams and disappointments, joys and frustrations woven in the time I
have shared with Abdias led, directly or indirectly, to the making of this book.
The responsibility for its content, of course, is solely mine.