The Unique "Brazilianness" of Brazilians

The rampant and gross indifference to the separation of the
various populations of Latin America in the United States
and elsewhere is interesting. In countries where populations
of European ancestry exist these populations make sure their
differences are clearly known, loud and distinct.

Alan P. Marcus

 

Recently, I watched an Irish movie where a fictional Brazilian soccer star had been hired to play for a Northern-Irish Protestant football (soccer) team. The Irish soccer supporters in the stadium, portrayed in this movie, wore Mexican sombreros and would play Mexican mariachi music to encourage and support this fictional Brazilian soccer-star-character in the film (a Catholic). This movie only reiterated the sustained stereotypes and the pathetically inaccurate and jumbled portrayal of the Brazilian archetype in Irish, British and North American popular, political, and literary imagery; which is ubiquitous and in need of serious revision.

The rampant and gross indifference to the separation and awareness of the various populations of Latin America is interesting, especially because in countries where populations of European ancestry exist these populations make sure their differences are clearly known, loud and distinct (i.e.; Irish, English, Scottish, Polish, Italian, French, German). For example, there is no hype of "the large European population in Boston", but instead, there exists hype about "the large Italian or Irish population in Boston". Likewise, the several so-called "ex-pats" around the world are meticulously careful to distinguish themselves from other nationalities.

Bossa Nova, baião, samba, choro and pagode are exclusively Brazilian. These are unique Brazilian musical genres that are as distant from Mexican Mariachi music as a Polish Polka is to an Irish jig.

Pelé, Tostão, Rivelino, Garrincha, Zico, Sócrates, Romário, Ronaldinho, all international Brazilian soccer stars, are examples of the truly and inimitable raison d'être which encapsulates the Brazilian essence, with all the ginga (Brazilian "sway"), the jeitinho brasileiro (literally: "the little Brazilian way"; or "the good-old Brazilian way") and the jogo de cintura (literally: "hip-play" or "hip-movement"; the Brazilian ability to figuratively and literally get out of constricted or stressful situations).

The way soccer is traditionally played in Brazil is unique, and Brazil is the only country in the world to have won the Soccer World Cup five times. These Brazilian soccer players do not play soccer like Mexicans, Puerto Ricans or Cubans, they are not "Hispanic" in the contemporary semantic context, but they are uniquely Brazilian.

The imaginary consolidation of one part of the American continent, Latin America, into one singular geographic, linguistic and ethnic category is flawed and politically-motivated. For example, Brazilians living and working in the USA might feel they have very little or nothing in common with Spanish-speaking populations such as Puerto Ricans, (they are actually US citizens), Mexicans, and Cubans, however, they all are treated as one big homogenous political group. Similarly, French culture and language is clearly different from Portuguese, English and Italian cultures and languages, albeit all these populations are located within the European continent, however, this certainly does not make them homogeneously "European".

These particular points are not examples of "political-correctness-gone-astray" or an attempt to avoid "offending" anybody; the point here is very simple: to merely illustrate how certain terms have transcended their original meaning and are geographically and scientifically invalid, and hence have become inaccuracies and in need of deconstruction and revision.

Brazilians speak Portuguese, they do not speak Spanish, do not listen to mariachi music nor do they eat burritos, fajitas or tacos and wear sombreros. Similarly, not everyone from Great Britain or Ireland is an uncouth drunken tattoo-bearing low-income council-flat-resident-football-hooligan-crook who speaks with a cockney accent and wants to escape to Rio de Janeiro like Ronnie Biggs.

Brazilians are likely to have as much in common with someone from Puerto Rico, Mexico, or Cuba, as an individual from the Isle of Dogs in the East End of London, England would have with someone from El Paso, Texas, USA.
 

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10 Reasons Why Brazil Should Never be Confused with Puerto Rico, Cuba or Mexico:

 Pelé, Tostão, Rivelino, Garrincha, Zico, Sócrates, Romário, Ronaldinho (Brazilian soccer stars)

Jeitinho brasileiro (literally: "the little Brazilian way"; or "the good-old Brazilian way")

Jogo de cintura (Literally: "hip-play" or "hip-movement"; the Brazilian ability to figuratively get out of constricted or stressful situations)

Samba (The Afro-Brazilian rhythm and music exclusively from Brazil)

"Palmeiras onde canta o sabiá" ("Palm trees where the songbird sings"; an excerpt from a well-known poem known to every Brazilian schoolboy and girl)

Boteco ("Small Brazilian-style bar")

Réveillon brasileiro ("Brazilian New Year's celebrations")

Chopp ("Brazilian draft beer")

Caipirinha (Brazilian drink made with pinga, lime and sugar)

Praia de Ipanema ("Ipanema Beach")

 

Alan P. Marcus (Master's of Science in Geography, in progress) is a Brazilian living in the USA. He has also written other articles on Brazilian identity, "race" and ethnicity, and animal ethics for Brazzil magazine, available online: www.brazzil.com - E-mail contact: amarcus@geo.umass.edu