Interview Analysis Vol. I: It's not about what you look like, it's about where you're from

One of the most interesting aspects of my research and interviews in Salvador was the race debate. If you are not familiar with Brazilian racial politics and history, I will give you a very brief overview. Though it is far from everyone, there are a great number of people in Brazil who believe that racism doesn't exist in Brazil. When racism is brought up, it is almost always used to define the racial climate in the United States, but not in Brazil. Many of the Brazilians I have spoken to over time have come up with some pretty creative answers to direct questions. Why are the majority of those who live in Brazil's favelas mostly black? Well according to many, the favelas are “completely” racial diverse and thus race has no part in defining who is there. Why is there so much opposition to racial quotas in University education? Because there shouldn't be any sort of quotas in education because those who deserve to be in the best universities are there because of hard work, and conversely those who aren't haven't worked hard enough to be prepared. Now I don't want oversimplify the issue, but these opinions are out there and strongly felt among many, not too different from what we have in the U.S.

To the relevance of my research, the question of race and student performance was one that I knew was going to be a difficult and interesting one for many of my interviewees because their views on race are very much colored by their experiences and upbringings. Some avoided the question, giving short, one-sentence answers to express how much race depended on the success of the children they taught (as a professor), oversaw (as a school administrator) or observed on paper (as a government official). I found myself frustrated in a few interviews because in my opinion (and particularly in Brazil) race plays a significant role in just about every facet of history and life; however, it is sometimes the most obvious things that are most difficult to openly observe and acknowledge.

The title of this post refers to two of the more vocal interviewees on the issue of race and educational performance; while in my heart and mind I came into each interview with my own opinions about the major issues, I was very much impressed with the clarity and thoughtfulness of each interviewee's argument.

The first is the current Vice-Director of Escola Profesor Bernardino Moreira, a privately funded school in Nordeste, a favela located near Salvador's city center. She graduated from college in the area of Pedagogy and Educational Discipline and has worked at the school for 15 years. Though in describing herself she did not give her age, my guess would be that she is in her early 40s.
On the question of whether she believed that a student's racial background played a role in their performance she responded it may play a role, however she argued that in her experience the most significant variable is the students' socioeconomic background. Put differently, she noted that the students who go through her school have been burdened by the fact that they live in a favela, in particular Nordeste, which has a reputation as one of Salvador's most dangerous. She noted that many students, when completing applications for jobs or schools oftentimes gave their place of residence as Amarlinaha, a neighborhood nearby which has a much better reputation.

“But this prejudice is not racial, it is based on the violence that occurs in Nordeste and as a result the reputation that the neighborhood receieves. Many (outside of the community) believe that to come from Nordeste means that you are some sort of theif and unfortunately, very few come from the outside to get a better perspective. This is hardest for the students to face, and I believe they suffer because of it.”

The essence of her argument was that it is not how the individual is affected prejudice based on race, but rather prejudice based on where they are from. I pressed her a bit in asking more specifically about the determining variable in the students' performance within Bernardino Moreira and she noted that it was a combination of parental involvement and the lack of safety in the community (more on that later). In reference to race, she posited that it could be an issue when the students move to another school—Bernardino Moreira goes until 8th grade—however, it has never been a major factor of the performance of the students currently enrolled.
She rejected race as the determining factor because of the diversity within Nordeste, where a large number of inhabitants self-identify as pardo or mixed. In fairness to her argument, the ability to pinpoint the racial element is made very difficult as a result of Brazil's complex racial history and how many are conditioned to identify as neither black or white, but somewhere in between. That said, it troubled me that the element of race was able to be so easily dismissed. Her argument is not so different from the argument used by many in the U.S.--that class trumps race in dealing with major inequalities—however, the complexity, once again is Brazil's color-based racial hierarchy.

The second interviewee is a school teacher with a doctorate in Anthropology and African Studies. He is 36 and is actively involved—both religiously and as an anthropologist—in Candomble, a religion most popular in the state of Bahia (in comparison to Brazil's other states) which has it's roots in African tribal religion. He is black.
While I conducted the interview in the same way as I had done all others, it was difficult to get away from the issue of race because he believed—in contrast with the previous interviewee—that race has a very large part to play in disparities in student performance. In the interview he drew upon his experience as a teacher and particular as a teacher of History. He began teaching when he was 24 and immediately noticed how History textbooks—as well as set curricula—focused on a Brazilian history that did not include the African influence.

“But my students, who are black, are in their Portuguese class where the teacher continues to talk about Camões or Castro Alves, or any other white poet or author and fails to mention many black poets, black songs, proverbs or national literature. In the history class, they learn of Africa only reference to slavery and there is no discussion of what those people were before slavery; they had nations...they were warriors, kings and priests.”

He noted that he could see the black students in his classes less interested and gaining much less from this education. He also noted that it was most obvious in his History classes, but was a constant theme in all of the classes he taught, whether it was Music, Language Arts or Visual Arts.
His major argument centered on the fact that Brazil has a history of racism and coupled with that racism is avoidance of racial confrontation. Today, this racism is masked by classism, which many use to explain the inequlities that currently exist. Stepping away from my set questions, I asked him his view on Affirmative Action in Brazil's system of higher education (http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/worldwide/story/0,9959,1012157,00.html)and he quickly responded that he is completely in favor of it, largely because he believed that quotas are emergency measures for the current and growing racial inequality.

“It is not as if this is an ideal means of changing the course of race relations in Brazil, but it has become necessary in order to begin to make change.”

I found myself impressed with his response—I had heard about these quotos and as was troubled by how they would be enacted in Brazil's framework of color-based racial hierarchy—as no one I had spoken with had phrased it in that exact way, though I still had doubts. That said his perspective was a valuable one, and in all honesty, one that I could relate to as a black male living in a society that attempts to avoid the racial component whenever possible.

Vale Tudo: Up Close and Quite Personal

I went to my first Vale Tudo match in early December, with Junior and his dad, Reginaldo. It was real. Really real. The viewing is a bit difficult as a result of the cage but...check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du33MskG-EA

Real Time Update

To my faithful few:

I wanted to take a moment and give real time update on my travels, as I have gotten into the bad habit of recounting experiences weeks late (at this rate I might as well scrap the blog and just send you all letters...you would get the news in about the same amount of time). After a grueling 11.5 hour flight from Buenos Aires, I have arrived in Madrid. It's 4:30 AM, dark and cold (3 degrees Celsius). I'm smelling a lot better than I thought I would after such a long flight, but I'm far from 100%. The scene is very different from the Buenos Aires airport in many ways, chief among them is the racial diversity. That said, I'm still getting a number of curious looks from both the Africans and the European Spainairds; I supposed even in the midst of this diversity I somehow find a way to stick out.

I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to stay awake until my connecting 3:30 PM flight to London. I probably won't make it...without sleep I mean. Now it's only a matter of finding a good place to rest my eyes for a few moments...

Fight Club

Behind soccer and volleyball, Brazil's fastest growing sport is Vale Tudo, or what is more commonly known in the English-speaking world as MMA (Mixed Martial Arts). For those who are unfamiliar with MMA, it is currently threatening to make boxing, formerly known as the most physically brutal sport, obsolete. Mixed Martial Arts, as the name suggests, requires that fighters are skilled in a number of techniques including jiu-jitsu, wrestling, judo, muay-tai and boxing, to name a few.

Now with that brief introduction taken care of...

Vale Tudo is very strong in Brazil, though this phenomenon is not as new as in other parts of the world such as, for example, the United States. For some time Brazil has been world-reknowned for the quality of jiu-jitsu and judo training and as Vale Tudo/MMA has become more popular as an international sport, Brazil has played a major role. Many of the world's top fighters are Brazilian or have studied in Brazil, which speaks to how this international fighting community views the country that is still more well-known for soccer, samba and beautiful beaches.

During my time in Brazil, and more specifically Salvador, I have had the opportunity to become intimately acquainted with this "fight club" as Junior (the eldest sibling in the household) began taking Jiu-Jitsu in August and claims to have aspirations in the world of ultimate fighting (though no one really believes (or wants) that he will follow through on that). His training everyday brought him a lot of pride as well as a bunch of new friends with whom he trains. During the beginning of my stay in Salvador the "new friends" element was a bit sensitive because there are major differences between Junior's galera and his fight club crew. Fortunately for all of them, as they are all Brazilian, this tension did not last long and I soon found myself hanging out (via Junior) with a group of people that was, on the whole, incredibly diverse in their interests and aspirations.

One of the most interesting aspects of the growing group of friends is getting to understand this fight culture that exists in the world of Vale Tudo and (more generally) martial arts specifically in Brazil. That said, I put together a list, which might be helpful if any of you ever make it to Salvador:

7 Ways to know if your new friend is a part of Brazil's “Fight Culture”

1.They've got some massive tatoo on their back, arm or torso of a dragon, “Jiu Jistsu” or “Vale Tudo” (Yes, it happens...a lot).
2.Short haircut (long hair is a liability in ultimate fighting) and deformed ears (from being hit and placed in different submission holds).
3.You'll be shadowboxing and they'll actually hit you. Or maybe you won't even be shadowboxing, they'll ask if they can show you something and the next thing you know your arm feels like its about to fall off.
4.They walk around in tight shirts that either have their Academia's (Dojo's) name on it, or just “Jiu-Jitsu,” “Judo” or “Vale Tudo” printed across the front.
5.Their handshakes are a little too firm.
6.They've got no leg hair on or around their shinbone (Muay Thai experience).
7.Everytime you go out and start drinking with them, they want to show you the various types of arm and leg locks.

Se Liga Bocao

(I don't know if I can actually get a video link on here, so check out this link for a brief clip from the show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FuQoj0wEoY )

As was the case on a given weekday in Casa Denise (and particularly once vacation began for the kids) the first half of the day consisted of breakfast, lunch and a whole bunch of TV. As I fell into the rhythm with the family, I noticed that the show that was most popular with the family was a news/talk show-esque program called "Se Liga Bocao." Think a mix between the Today Show, Larry King and Jerry Springer. The program's title means "Call Big-Mouth." "Big Mouth" is meant to capture the program's expository nature as it shows what other, more traditional news programs, refuse to.

I'm posting about this particular program because of it's unique nature, not only compared to the more traditional news programs in Brazil, but also compared to any news program that I have seen. The program's host (O Bocao), who apparently was formerly a reporter for Brazil's Globo network, goes to great lengths to show a side of Bahia (the show only airs in Bahia) that you will never see on any other news program. Along with his field reporter (whose name escapes me at the moment) they broadcast stories about police violence, drug trafficking and kidnapping. The program devotes at least twenty minutes to tearful testimonials from interviewees about friends or family members who are missing.

However, there is another side to the program. This other side (the Jerry Springer side) makes the program look like a joke as Bocao's field reporter will at times openly humiliate the interviewee, oftentimes the victim of some crime or malady. Combined with sound effects and music from the main studio, segments of the show will appear to be aired with the sole purpose of ridiculing and humiliating the state's poor (who are nearly always the subject of the episode), either in favelas or the periferia (boonies). This humiliation includes showcasing an abuse victims wounds, rough questioning of alleged criminals at the police station, and openly ridiculing those who seem just happy to be on TV.

I'm conflicted about the program. On one hand, it represents something that many of us aren't used to: news media that doesn't seem to have some sort of obvious ideological lean. It portrays both the good and the bad in a seemingly objective light. The major problem is the way O Bocao goes about presenting aspects of this news. While the program does give a non-sugar-coated look at the darker side of the state of Bahia (if it weren't for the program one might believe every single one of the state sponsored ads about how much better life is for every baiano and baiana) it does so at the expense of the dignity of its subjects (like Jerry Springer, except in this case it's not staged). From an outsider's perspective Baianos look principally poor and ignorant and not a whole lot else.

But maybe that's what is necessary for this form of news to have some sort of effect. It is definitely popular and takes up a significant chunk of airtime in the middle of the day. I guess what remains to be seen (the program is only a few years old) is whether it will spark positive action or will just be something at which viewers point and laugh.

Is objectively informing people as to what is out there--whether or not others are humiliated in the process--enough?
I'm not exactly sure.

A Galera Baiana

I figured that it would make sense to give you all a picture of my "galera baiana" that has been my family away from home...

A familia unida (Tia Denise; mom, Reginaldo; dad, Jamile; sister, Junior; brother)

The Dudes (Junior, Daniel, Adson (cousin), Vitinho, Jeter)

Luar (cousin), Adson, Alexandre (friend), Jamile

A familia unida pt. II

So About Those Posts...

They're coming; I promise. If you've been reading from the start, I will note that you were forwarned that I'm far from accustomed to this habit of blogkeeping. Okay, enough with the excuses.

When I first went away to college, I would jokingly call mom and dad on the phone, asking them if life was actually continuing at home without me. Clearly it was a joke, but it was funny sometimes to think about reality continuing on even when I wasn't there, kind of like that classic rhetorical question of if a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? Ok, kinda...in any event the relevance of this weird anecdote is that perhaps for some of you, out of site means out of mind, or perhaps you were wondering if I fell off the face of the earth after December 17th. Perhaps...

I just want to let everyone know that I'm alive, doing well and have not fallen over the edge of the earth.

The past month has been very interesting and if I had to give it a name (yea, I know, who gives personalized names to month-long periods of time?), I would this period "Peace of Mind." Thanks to everyone who remembered my birthday; it hasn't quite sunk in that I'm 23 yet, though it probably won't until I'm nearly 24 (as is the case usually for me). I was truly blessed to have the opportunity to return home for a couple of days (2) over Christmas, though in all honesty the circumstances were not ideal. That said, the love from family and friends both in the U.S. as well as Brazil meant a tremendous amount, making this holiday season one of the most special of my life. On top of all of that, I was privileged enough to spend a bit of time with my wonderful/incredible girlfriend during the first couple of weeks of January here in Brazil.

I am currently in the international airport in Rio de Janeiro (it seems my best writing is done in the airport) awaiting my flight to Buenos Aires, where I will be spending the next 8 days of my journey. These past two months have been incredible, and thus this departure is bitter-sweet, though something tells me I will be back here before too long. I realize I didn't do too good of a job with Brazil (in terms of updates) though I will be remedying that in the coming days (I have continued writing, just not for the public form that is this blog), as well as giving you all a look at Argentina, a country I'm excited to get to know, even if it's only for a few days. Yes, I know that with my track record, I have laid out an abitious feat; but there's nothing wrong with aiming for the stars, cuz if you miss, you may hit a mountain or a tree, which is something, right?

Anyway, for those that will be on the egde of their seats over the course of the next month as I write another poor excuse for why I'm not blogging, here is a look at what's in store in the upcoming Brazil Review:

Primary Education Observations and Interviews
A Galera/Familia Baiana
Jiu-Jitsu Culture in Brazil
Brazil's Middle Class
Art on Salvador's Walls
A Brasileira/Baiana (this will be interesting...)
Is Kaka o melhor jogador do mundo?
A Little Drama in Salvador
Northeast Ground Travel
Tudo Bem's List of Things You Must Do While in Brazil (this will be the start of my career as a professional guidebook writer)

I'm on the case :-).