The Trot

The first month of school was dedicated to what is called “the trot” it’s a series of freshmen initiations that last about a week.
The freshmen are taken from class, painted, and then taken to the center of the city where they beg for money. This money is used to pay for a huge party at the end of the week where the freshmen are again painted, soaked in alcohol and paraded through the campus. Each trot only last a week but each department has it’s own trot so it takes about a month for all the departments to complete the process. During this time regular classes are rarely held. Two of my professors took vacations during the trot and dismissed their classes entirely. I find this tradition typical of Brazilian festive humor. It’s a long tradition, and upperclassmen as well as freshmen look forward to it. I would say that, through it may delay the classes from starting for a few weeks, the professors do their best to make up for lost time, and the trot does not seriously detract from the learning process. In fact many believe it adds to the educational atmosphere of the university, because it makes the freshmen fell more included and motivated to take part in the schools activities. I did not attend all of the ceremonies or parties but here are some pictures that I took on my way to class one morning.

Brazilian American

I would like to start my analysis of Brazilian culture, by analyzing how Brazilians as a whole view American culture. I do this not out of a sense of ethnocentrism, but because Brazilians reachtions to me are often overshadowed by attitude. The Brazilian reaction to me and my culture must be the first thing I analyize because it is the first thing I encounter, and the first obstacle I must overcome. I will always be seen as a foreigner, specifically as an American. So in this post I attempt to analysis how this will effect my study.

First let me be clear I have incountered no direct predjudice, on account of being American, but I people approach me differently once they know I am a foreigner.

The Brazilian attitude towards America is made up of two almost contradictory semtiments. In regards to purely cultural aspects Brazilian national pride is strong. Brazilain music, food, traditions, are all highly valued. In general Brazilians concider themselves apart from, even above, other South-American cultures.At the same time there is a strong admiration even envy of anything American or European. This attitude is held most strongly among young Brazilians. This envy focuses mostly on foreign technology, cinema, and life style. These two attitudes are in costant conflict, not only in Brazilian pop-culture but also in governmental policy.

I asked a Brazilian friend about this contradiction and he told me, “See we want everything American, we want their money, their style, there success, everything, everything American we want, but we don’t want to be America.”

A simple example of this is McDonald’s. McDonald’s in Brazil is an extremely trendy almost high class returant. The McDonald’s closest to my house has two stories, includes a separate, McCafé coffee shop, and offers free internet access to it’s customers. The food is exactly like food in any American McDonal]s, but it is much more expensive. For the same price as a Big-Mac combo meal I could pay an all you can eat Brazilian Grill Buffet. The admiration of American culture is obvious.

Yet all around town you find no Brazilian copies of McDonalds. Brazilian Hambergurs outside of MdDonald”s are different intirely from American Hambergers. I’ve even heard some Brazilians comment that “Brazil burgers” were invented separately and orrigionally by the Brazilians withought American influence. They admire American culture but do not want to accept that they are influenced by it.

Incidently they think the same thing about the Airplane, insisting that the first airplane was invented by a Brazilian, Santos DuMont. Who worked completely independent of any external influence.

This national pride rarely leads to serious predjudice. Last week however I witnessed first hand the extremes which these sentiments can drive people.

President Bush visited Brazil, primarily to negotiate the opening of trade barriers between the U.S. and Brazil. All the people I questioned about these negotiations were unilaterally in favor of opening trade barriers. It would bring American products and American bussness to Brazil. At the same time in cities all over the country there were huge demonstrations against Bush’s visit. Here are some photos.



To me the reasoning behind the protests was unclear. When I asked why they were protesting people gave two answers, first that Bush had constructed trade barriers that had hurt Brazil for decades and secondly of coarse the war in Iraq.

Whenever I pointed out that Bush could not have been responisible for trade barriers erected decades ago, and that his purpose in visiting Brazil was to open barriers they immediately resorted to the “we want peace not war,” occationally I tried to explain that the purpose of the war we were fighting was to bring peace, that if America did not fight this war, war would soon spread even to Brazil.

Two aspects of the protests struck me as nearly obsurd, first that the “Peace protests” were aceptionaly violent.

A sort of it’s “O.K. for us to use violence to end violene, but you cannot do the same.”

Secondly that the protests were held mostly by women as part of the “International women’s day” celebration. I could not help but think what the Islamic extremists think of women being so vocal. Or what they think of the “International Women’s Day,” for that matter.


This womans sign reads “Women for Peace,”

One woman I saw, but will not show pictured, wore only a string bikini bottom. She was painted in Brazilain colors except for her Breasts which were painted Black. She held a “American’s get out of Iraq,” sign. I wonder if the terrorists would praise this women for Bravery, or try to kill her for immodesty.

I guess At the heart of all this confusion and contradiction their the same pride and predudice that exists in all parts of the world. Ironically I think much of this anti-American sentiment is taken from American culture.

I belive that in order to move forward the world must unite. We must find a way to convince people that they can accept all good things world cultures have to offer without loosing any of their own culture. Better yet we need begin to see ourselves as members of a world culture.

Carnaval

Feb 20, 2007 Today in the city it’s raining. The roads turn to rivers that wash down the storm drains and out to sea. The beaches are empty and people scurry about under umbrellas or huddle under awnings. The city is quiet, only the gentle sound of the rain, the rush of the water through the streets, distant thunder. After a week of carnival the rain is cool and soothing.
I could write a book about Carnaval in Brazil, just describing the images I’ve seen, not to mention the complex history and cultural significance of the festival. Many consider Carnaval to be greatest manifestaion of Brazilian culture. I think this is an overstatement. Carnaval is of European origin and some type of Carnaval is celebrated in countries all over the world. In addition Carnaval is a holiday a break from the normal lives of Brazilians. For these reasons I will limit my analysis of Carnaval to a brief description of the things I observed first hand.

All week long the sun has been burning, the beaches crowded, the city dancing, Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro is legendary around the world, seeing it in person I am overwhelmed. The week began early Sunday morning 7 am and there are fireworks out side my window. All day long children with painted faces run through the streets, the sun blazes and the people gather in city squares, or on doorsteps to laugh and dance. Sounds and smells from the street fairs fill the city.
As night falls the shops close, the bars open, the music grows louder and faster. On Wednesday I visited Lapa, the literal center of the city. It was 11 o’clock and the bars and clubs were just opening, The streets were filled with people, people danced around trucks with huge speakers on trailers. The city was literally roaring with people. Beneath the starless sky I work my way through the endless crowds of people, who were drinking, laughing, and yelling to each other. By shoes were soon caked with a sort of mud made of paper confetti mixed with urine and street water. It was almost too much for the senses to register.
Thursday we went to a stadium to watch one of the Saba schools practice for the parades. The floats and costumes were astonishing. The floats were gigantic, the main float was a giant figure of Satan himself, real flames came from his staff.
Behind him a giant pyramid filled with a hundred men in loincloths, All around them women danced in their costumes, a sea of jewels, and feathers, and naked skin. The crowd sang the same refrain again and again… Eu quero ver o amor florescer o diferente é normal, da da da (I want to see love flourish, what is different is normal, da da da…
I stood breathless,
I didn’t participate in many of the celebrations but I still hardly slept all week. Now that it’s all over I finally have time to relax. The rain is soothing and it washes the city.

My first House

Feb 14 I’m laying on the top bunk, right next to the open window, we always keep it open to keep the room cool. Through this window I watch the evening clouds roll along the hillside Gray, yellow, and peach, against the deep green of corcovada peak. The great Christ statue that overlooks the city is outlined in the mist. It’s not to hot but I’m sweating with the moister in the air. Down on the street below, kids play soccer, a few men play drums while the women dance, practicing for carnaval I guess. I’ve been in Brazil for a week. I’m still slightly breathless.
For the past few days I’ve been living in a sort of boarding house. It’s on a relatively quiet street, cobblestone in fact, where all the houses are tall, pressed together, and brightly colored. Ours is red. I live in a small room at the very top of the house. It’s hot up here but peaceful, and the view…ah…the view…the view is great. The house is owned by Ricardo and his young(very young) wife. Besides these two and myself the house is home to three guys, four girls, one very old man, three dogs, and at least three cats.
I’ve come to Brazil to study the people, their language, and their culture. I want to understand their way of life, and their way of thinking. I want to find a connection. I’ve come to realize over the past few years that the world is becoming so integrated, that understanding is the only way forward. I feel that to many in the U.S. and probably around the world, don’t appreciate this integration. Part of my goal is to learn how a person can be integrated into a new society and come to function well within it, without loosing their own cultural identity. I also hope to discover how a society can be taught to accept people from other cultures into society. Where ever we’re going we’re going to get there together. This bog will be a record of the things I’ve learned. Since my focus and goal is understanding if anyone out there has any insights, into culture, humanity, truth, society, please give us your thoughts. Thank You