Black Brazil: Afro-Brazilian Music, Literature, and Art

More enslaved people from Africa were forced to Brazil than any other country and Brazil was the last country to abolish the practice of slavery in the Americas. How do these two facts impact the cultural history of Brazil? How and why was the country mythologized as a 'racial democracy' in the twentieth century? This class engages these questions to explore the origins, development, and centrality of Afro-Brazilian culture. We will immerse ourselves in the cities of Salvador and Rio de Janeiro, explore samba and Carnaval, take a dive into syncretic religious practices such as Candomblé, observe dances like capoeira, and study literary and artistic expressions from an anti-racist perspective to gain a fuller picture of Brazilian society today.