Brazil's Living Museum: Race, Reform, and Tradition in Bahia

236 Pages·2010·3.08 MB·English

by  Anadelia A. Romo

Brazil’s Living Museum
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Brazil’s Living Museum
Race, Reform, and Tradition in Bahia
a n a d e l i a a . r o m o
the uni v ersit y of north carolina pr ess • ch apel hill
© 2010 the university of north carolina press
All rights reserved / Manufactured in the United States of America
Set in Arnhem and TheSans
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and
durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book
Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.
The University of North Carolina Press has been a member
of the Green Press Initiative since 2003.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Romo, Anadelia A.
Brazil’s living museum : race, reform, and tradition in Bahia /
Anadelia A. Romo.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-8078-3382-7 (cloth : alk. paper)
isbn 978-0-8078-7115-7 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Bahia (Brazil : State) — History. 2. Bahia (Brazil : State) — Race
relations. 3. Blacks — Brazil — Bahia (State) — Government relations.
4. Blacks — Race identity — Brazil — Bahia (State) — History. 5. Bahia
(Brazil : State) — Civilization — African infl uences. 6. Politics and
culture — Brazil — Bahia (State) — History. I. Title.
f2551.r65 2010
981'.42 — dc22 2009039479
cloth 14 13 12 11 10 5 4 3 2 1
paper 14 13 12 11 10 5 4 3 2 1
for Tim
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c o n t e n t s
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction. Between Africa and Athens:
Bahia’s Search for Identity 1
1 Finding a Cure for Bahia 13
2 Contests of Culture 47
3 Preserving the Past 86
4 Debating African Roots 113
5 Embattled Modernization and the
Retrenchment of Tradition 133
Conclusion 151
Notes 161
Bibliography 195
Index 217
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a c k n o w l e d g m e n t s
After many years of work on this manuscript, it is a pleasure to fi nally be
able to acknowledge, in print, the many colleagues and friends who have
helped along the way. For their valuable comments and careful readings,
I thank many generous souls, including Patrick Barr-Melej, Dain Borges,
John Coatsworth, João José Reis, Julia Rodriguez, and John Womack. Carrie
Endries, Carlos Romo, Allison Tirres, and Teresa Van Hoy were especially
diligent in providing feedback on multiple drafts. A special thanks also goes
to Jane Mangan, who read the entire manuscript at an early point and pro-
vided critical support and advice throughout the project.
In addition to these colleagues at various institutions, I have been remark-
ably lucky to land in a most supportive and collegial department, where
many have provided comments on the work at various stages. Mary Bren-
nan, Lynn Denton, Paul Hart, Ken Margerison, Jimmy McWilliams, Mar-
garet Menninger, Angela Murphy, and Dwight Watson all helped improve
the manuscript and offered generous and unfl agging support more gener-
ally. At Texas State I have also been the recipient of two Research Enhance-
ment Grants that have allowed me the time and resources for research. I
thank the History Department, in addition, for course releases that made