            |
| Notable Afro-Brazilians:
Ernesto Carneiro Ribeiro • Ronaldinho • Machado de Assis |
| Total population |
|---|
| "Black": c. 12.908 million 6.9% of Brazil's population "Pardo": c. 79.782 million 42.6% of Brazil's population[1]
|
| Regions with significant populations |
| Brazil |
| Languages |
| Religion |
|
Predominantly Roman Catholic; Protestant, non-religious, Kardekist, Umbanda, Candomblé |
| Related ethnic groups |
|
African, Angolan, Yoruba, Ewe, Afro-Chilean, Afro-Argentine, Afro-Cuban, Afro-Ecuadorian, Afro-Latin American, Afro-Mexican, Afro-Peruvian, Afro-Trinidadian, Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Jamaicans, Afro-Costa Rican, Afro-Uruguayan, African-American |
Afro-Brazilian, or Black Brazilian, is the term used to racially categorize Brazilian citizens who self-reported to be of black or brown (Pardo) skin colors to the official IBGE census. As of 2005, 91 million Brazilians were included in the black and brown category.[2]
Brazil has the largest population of black origin outside of Africa[3] with, in 2007, 7.4% classyfing themselves as preto (black skin color) and 42.3% as pardo (brown color). The latter classification is broad and encompasses Brazilians of mixed ancestry, including mulattos and caboclos[1] making the total 49.5%. The largest concentration of Afro-Brazilians is in the state of Bahia where over 80% of the people are descendants of Africans.[4][5][6]
A large number of Brazilians have some African ancestry and Brazilian populations are remarkably heterogeneous. Due to intensive mixing with Europeans and Native Indians, Brazilians with African ancestors may or may not show any trace of black features[7].
Contents |
History
Brazil obtained 37% of all African slaves traded, and close to 4 million slaves were sent to this one country.[8] Starting around 1550, the Portuguese began to trade African slaves to work the sugar plantations once the native Tupi people deteriorated. During the colonial epoch, slavery was a mainstay of the Brazilian economy, especially in mining and sugar cane production.
The Clapham Sect, a group of Victorian Evangelical politicians, campaigned during most of the 19th century for England to use its influence and power to stop the traffic of slaves to Brazil. Besides moral qualms, Brazilian slavery hampered the development of markets for British products, which was a main concern of British government and civil society. This combination led to intensive pressure from the British government for Brazil to end this practice, which it did by steps over several decades. Slavery was legally ended May 13 by the Lei Áurea ("Golden Law") of 1888.
| African disembarkments in Brazil, from 1500 to 1855[9] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Period | 1500-1700 | 1701-1760 | 1761-1829 | 1830-1855 |
| Numbers | 510,000 | 958,000 | 1,720,000 | 618,000 |
Conception of Black and prejudice
According to anthropologist Darcy Ribeiro:
| “ | In Brazil black is the very dark black, the mulatto is the brown and then is half white, and if the skin color is a little lighter, the person is incorporated into the white community.[10] | ” |
In Brazil the "race" of an individual is based primarily on physical appearance, while in the United States the ancestry is more important. In Brazil the children born to a black mother and an European father who had more pronounced physical African features would be classified as black, while the children with more European features would be classified as white.[11] In Brazil it is possible for two siblings of different colors to be classified as people of different races. With no strict criteria for racial classifications, lighter-skinned mulattoes were easily integrated into the white population, introducing a large proportion of African blood in the white Brazilian population, as well as a large proportion of European blood in the black population. In the United States, on the other hand, which had defined concepts of race, due to the one drop rule any person with any known African ancestry was automatically classified as black, regardless of skin color. Thus, many black Americans have some degree of European ancestry, while few white Americans have African ancestry.[11] The Brazilian society is an example for geneticists argue that human races do not exist and that they are mere "social constructs".[12] According to geneticist Sérgio Pena:
| “ | Only a few genes are responsible for someone's skin colour, which is a very poor indication of ancestry. A white person could have more African genes than a black one or vice-versa, especially in a country like Brazil.[13] | ” |
According to the sociologist Simon Schwartzman the official figures about the size of the black population in Brazil are criticized because "(the official figures) would hide the true size of the black population in Brazil, which if defined in a similar way to what happens in the United States would reach at least 50% of the population; and they would also not measure the true size of the Amerindian population."[14] According to Schwartzman in Brazilian society people can easily pass from a race to another. This would be the result of a prejudice of class, in which people move from one race to another as they enrich. According to this thinking, also followed by Darcy Ribeiro, in Brazil social prejudice is stronger than racial discrimination. Many black Brazilians live in poor conditions which in the popular imagination created an association of being black as a synonym for being poor. Moreover, for many decades, the Brazilian ruling classes blamed the blacks for the underdevelopment of Brazil, even encouraging the arrival of masses of European immigrants to melhorar a raça ("improve the race"). The Brazilian assimilationist society was peculiar because it expected that the black population should disappear within the white population.[10] In this context, the black population was poor because of the "inferiority of the black race", and not because of slavery and its consequences. The poverty of many black Brazilians is due to the problem that when the slaves were freed the Brazilian government did not give them any social assistance, leaving former slaves in a condition of underemployment and vulnerable to the arbitrariness of land owners. With no lands, which in Brazil were monopolized by a small rural aristocracy, many blacks migrated to urban centers that were not prepared to receive so many people because there were few jobs available. Then a large underemployed and unemployed population was formed and many favelas appeared, today centers of crime and drug dealing.[10]
Gilberto Freyre wrote that few wealthy Brazilians admit to have African ancestry[15]. The same analysis was performed by Ribeiro, who wrote that the people of darker complexion from the dominant classes usually associate their skin color with an Indian ancestry rather than African. For the large part of Brazilian society to be associated with the condition of black is "totally undesirable" and Ribeiro wrote that "This happens in a sick society, with a distorted consciousness, where the blacks are regarded as guilty of their misery". Ribeiro believed, however, that the prejudice in Brazil, due to be primarily social, can be finished. This will happen when many black Brazilians be out of the condition of misery and take part in the consumer market. A 2007 resource found that the white workers had an average monthly income almost twice that of blacks and pardos (brown). The blacks and brown earned on average 1.8 minimum wages, while the whites had a yield of 3.4 minimum wages.[16] Ribeiro considered that through the example of many African Americans who became wealthier, many black and mulatto Brazilians began to be pride of themselves and started to assume their blackness. According to Ribeiro, then, when black Brazilians start to be part of the wealthier classes, through social democracy, the racial democracy will be possible in Brazil.[10]
Demographics
Afro-Brazilian formation
The growth of the African-Brazilian population was mainly due to the acquisition of new slaves from Africa. In Brazil, the black population had a negative growth. This was due to the low life expectancy of the slaves, which was around 7 years.[10] It was also because of the imbalance between the number of men and women. The vast majority of slaves were men, black women being a minority. Slaves rarely had a family and the unions between the slaves was hampered due to incessant hours of work. Another very important factor was that black women were held by white and mixed-race men. The Portuguese colonization, largely composed of men with very few women resulted in a social context in which white men disputed indigenous or African women.[10] In colonial Brazilian society, the few African women who arrived quickly became concubines, and in some cases, officially wives of the Portuguese settlers. In largeplantations of sugar cane and in the mining areas, the white master often choose the most beautiful black slaves to work inside the house. These slaves were forced to have sex with their master, producing a very large Mulato population. The English diplomat and ethnologist Richard Francis Burton wrote that "Mulatism became a necessary evil" in the captaincies in the interior of Brazil. He noticed a "strange aversion to marriage" in the 19th century Minas Gerais, arguing that the colonists preferred to have quick relationships with black slaves rather than a marriage.[15]
The process of miscegenation between whites and blacks in Brazil, in contrast to an idealizedracial democracy and a peaceful integration, was a process of sexual domination, in which the white man imposed an unequal relationship using violence because of his prime condition in society.[10] As an official wife or as a concubine or subjected to a condition ofsexual slave, the black woman was the reponsible for the growth of the African-Brazilian population.[17] The African-Brazilian population has grown mainly through sexual intercourse between the black female slave and the Portuguese master, what explains the high degree of European ancestry in the black Brazilian population and the high degree of African ancestry in the white population.[18]
The Brazilian population of clearer black physiognomy is more strongly present along the coast, due to the high concentration of slaves working on sugar cane plantations. Another region that had a strong presence of Africans was the mining areas in the center of Brazil. Gilberto Freyre wrote that the states with stronger African presence were Bahia and Minas Gerais. Freyre wrote, however, that there's no region in Brazil where the black people have not penetrated[15]. Many blacks fled to the interior of Brazil and met Amerindian and Mameluco populations. Many of these acculturated blacks were accepted in these communities and taught them the Portuguese language and the European culture. In these areas the blacks were "agents for transmitting European culture" to those isolated communities in Brazil. Many blacks mixed with the Indian and caboclo women, settling in remote areas where it was usually believed that only Indians and Whites settled, such as in the Amazon Rainforest.[15]
Main Afro-Brazilian communities
As of 2007, the Brazilian Metropolitan Area with the largest percentage of people reported as of African descent was Salvador, Bahia, with 1,869,550 Pardo (brown) people (53.8%) and 990,375 Black people (28.5%). The state of Bahia has also the largest percentage of Afro-Brazilians, with 62.9% of Brown and 15.7% of Blacks.[19] As of 2000, the towns with the highest percentage of blacks were: Riacho Frio (PI) with 61.71%, Pugmil (TO) with 41.33% and Pedrão (BA) with 39.32%. The towns with the highest percentage of Pardos (Brown) were: Nossa Senhora das Dores (SE) with 98.16%, Santo Inácio do Piauí (PI) with 96.90% and Boa Vista do Ramos (MA) with 92.40%.[20]
Genetic studies
| Genetic origin of Brazilian population (Perc.% rounded values) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Line | Origin | Negros (Black)[21] |
Brancos (Caucasian)[22] |
| Maternal (mtDNA) |
Sub-Saharan Africa | 85% | 28% |
| Europe | 2.5% | 39% | |
| Native Brazilian | 12.5% | 33% | |
| Paternal (Y chromosome) |
Sub-Saharan Africa | 48% | 2% |
| Europe | 50% | 98% | |
| Native Brazilian | 1.6% | 0% | |
A recent genetic study of Afro-Brazilians made for BBC Brasil analysed the DNA of self-reported Blacks from São Paulo.[23]
The research analyzed the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), that is present in all human beings and passed down with only minor mutations through the maternal line. The other is the Y chromosome, that is present only in males and passed down with only minor mutations through the paternal line. Both can show from what part of the world a matrilineal or patrilineal ancestor of a person came from, but one can have in mind that they are only a fraction of the human genome, and reading ancestry from Y chromosome and mtDNA only tells 1/23rd the story, since humans have 23 chromosome pairs in the cellular DNA.[24]
Analyzing the Afro-Brazilians' Y chromosome, which comes from male ancestors through paternal line, it was concluded that half (50%) of African-Brazilian population have at least one male ancestor who came from Europe, 48% from Africa and 1.6% who was a Native American. Analyzing their mitochondrial DNA, that comes from female ancestors though maternal line, 85% of them have at least a female ancestor who came from Africa, 12.5% who was Native American and 2.5% from Europe[21].
The high level of European ancestry in Black Brazilians through paternal line exists because, for much of Brazil's History, there were more Caucasian males than Caucasian females. So inter-racial relationships between Caucasian males and Sub-Saharan African or Native American females were widespread[25].
| Caucasian Brazilians and Caucasian Americans with 10% or more of Sub-Saharan African genes[22] |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Region | Perc.(%) | ||
| Brazil - Northern, Northeastern and Southeastern regions |
75% | ||
| Brazil - Southern region | 49% | ||
| United States | 11% | ||
The same genetic research concluded that 45% of Brazilians (77 million people) would have 90% or over Sub-Saharan African genes.Source needed Over 75% of Caucasians from North, Northeast and Southeast Brazil would have over 10% Sub-Saharan African genes, according to this particular study. Even Southern Brazil that received a large group of European immigration, 49% of the Caucasian population would have over 10% Sub-Saharan African genes, according to that study. A research showed that the average European American has approximately 10% to 12% non-White genetic material.[24]
Thus, according to those studies, 86% of Brazilians would have at least 10% of genes that came from Africa.
As an example, one thousand individuals from Porto Alegre city, Southern Brazil, and 760 from Natal city, Northeastern Brazil, were studied in relation to 12 and 8 genetic systems, respectively. The gathered data were used to estimate quantitatively the ethnic composition of individuals from these communities. More than half of the genes present in individuals classified as Black in Porto Alegre city are of European origin, while the Whites from this city have 8% of African alleles genes.
The estimated degree of admixture in persons identified as White or Mixed in Natal city is not much different. The ancestry of the total sample can be characterized as 58% White, 25% Black, and 17% Indian[26]
 |
 |
 |
Famous African Brazilians
In 2007 BBC Brasil launched the project Raízes Afro-Brasileiras (African Brazilian Roots), in which they analyzed the genetic ancestry of nine famous Afro-Brazilians. Three tests were based on analysis of different parts of their DNA: an examination of paternal ancestry, maternal ancestry and the genomic ancestry, allowing to estimate the percentage of African, European and Amerindian genes in the composition of an individual.[27]
Of the 9 famous Afro-Brazilians analyzed, 3 of them had more European ancestry than African one, while the other 6 people had more African ancestry, with varying degrees of European and Amerindian admixture. The African admixture varied from 19.5% in actress Ildi Silva to 99.3% in singer Milton Nascimento. The European admixture varied from 0.4% in Nascimento to 70% in Silva. The Amerindian admixture from 0.3% in Nascimento to 25.4% in soccer player Obina.
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
Religion
Most Afro-Brazilians are Christians, mainly Catholics. Afro-Brazilian religions such as Candomblé and Umbanda have many followers, mainly Afro-Brazilians. They are concentrated mainly in large urban centers such as Salvador de Bahia, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre, Brasília, São Luís. In addition to Candomblé which is closer to the original West African religions, there is also Umbanda which blends Catholic and Kardecist Spiritism beliefs with African beliefs. Candomblé, Batuque, Xango and Tambor de Mina were originally brought by black slaves shipped from Africa to Brazil.
These black slaves would summon their gods, called Orixas, Vodous or Inkices with chants and dances they had brought from Africa. These religions have been persecuted in the past, mainly due to Catholic influence. However, Brazilian government has legalized them. In current practice, Umbanda followers leave offerings of food, candles and flowers in public places for the spirits. The Candomblé terreiros are more hidden from general view, except in famous festivals such as Iemanjá Festival and the Waters of Oxalá in the Northeast.
From Bahia northwards there is also different practices such as Catimbo, Jurema with heavy, though not necessarily original, indigenous elements. All over the country, but mainly in the Amazon rainforest, there are remnanst of the original Indian population still practicing their original traditions.
Cuisine
The cuisine created by the Afro-Brazilians has a wide variety of foods. In the State of Bahia, an exquisite cuisine evolved when cooks improvised on African, American-Indian, and traditional Portuguese dishes using locally available ingredients. Typical dishes include Vatapá and Moqueca, both with seafood and dendê palm oil (Portuguese: Azeite de Dendê). This heavy oil extracted from the fruits of an African palm tree is one of the basic ingredients in Bahian or Afro-Brazilian cuisine, adding a wonderful flavor and bright orange color to foods. There is no equivalent substitute, but it is available in markets specializing in Brazilian or African imports.
Feijoada is the national dish of Brazil (for over 300 years). It is basically a mixture of black beans, pork and farofa (lighly roasted coarse cassava manioc flour). It started as a Portuguese dish that the African slaves built upon, made out of cheap ingredients: pork ears, feet and tail, beans and manioc flour. It has been adopted by all the other cultural regions, and there are hundreds of ways to make it.
Capoeira
Capoeira is a martial art developed initially by African slaves came especially from countries as Angola or Mozambique in Brazil, starting in the colonial period. It is marked by deft, tricky movements often played on the ground or completely inverted. It also has a strong acrobatic component in some versions and is always played with music. Recently, the art has been popularized by the addition of Capoeira performed in various computer games and movies, and Capoeira music has featured in modern pop music (see Capoeira in popular culture).
Music
The music created by Afro-Brazilians is a mixture of Portuguese, Amerindian, and African music, making a wide variety of styles. Brazil is well known for the rhythmic liveliness of its music as in its Samba dance music. This is largely because Brazilian slave owners allowed their slaves to continue their heritage of playing drums (unlike U.S. slave owners who feared use of the drum for communications).
Literature
Afro-Brazilian literature has existed in Brazil since the mid-19th century with the publication of Maria Firmina dos Reis's novel Ursula in 1859. Yet, Afro-Brazilian literature did not gain national prominence in Brazil until the 1970s with the revival of Black Consciousness politics known as the Movimento Negro.
See also
- Ethnic groups in Brazil
- Batuque
- Candomblé
- Kalunga
- Liberated Africans in Nigeria
- Macumba
- Quimbanda
- Racial democracy
- Umbanda
- Helvécio Martins
- Tambor de Mina
- Chica da Silva (person)
References
- ^ a b "PNAD" (in Portuguese) (PDF). 2006. http://www.ibge.gov.br/home/estatistica/populacao/trabalhoerendimento/pnad2006/brasilpnad2006.pdf. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
- ^ MAIOR POPULAÇÃO NEGRA DO PAÍS
- ^ Newint.org
- ^ Estados@
- ^ Edward Eric Telles (2004). "Racial Classification". Race in Another America: the significance of skin color in Brazil. Princeton University Press. pp. 81–84. ISBN 0691118663.
- ^ David I. Kertzer and Dominique Arel (2002). Census and Identity: The Politics of Race, Ethnicity, and Language in National Censuses. Cambridge University Press. pp. 63–64. ISBN 0521004276.
- ^ Estudos Avançados - Pode a genética definir quem deve se beneficiar das cotas universitárias e demais ações afirmativas?
- ^ Negros IBGE
- ^ IBGE - Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística
- ^ a b c d e f g RIBEIRO, Darcy. O Povo Brasileiro, Companhia de Bolso, fourth reprint, 2008 (2008).
- ^ a b "Sex-biased gene flow in African Americans but not in American Caucasians". Genetics and Molecular Researchs. http://www.funpecrp.com.br/gmr/year2007/vol2-6/gmr0330_full_text.htm. Retrieved on 2009-07-13.
- ^ [http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=31&art_id=vn20021217112750970C124344&set_id=1 Scientists prove that race does not exist
- ^ BBC delves into Brazilians' roots accessed July 13, 2009
- ^ Fora de foco: diversidade e identidade étnicas no Brasil
- ^ a b c d Freyre, Gilberto. Casa-Grande e Senzala, Edition. 51, 2006 (2006).
- ^ Em 2007, trabalhadores brancos ganharam quase duas vezes mais que os negros, diz IBGE
- ^ A África nos genes do povo brasileiro 1
- ^ A África nos genes do povo brasileiro 2
- ^ IBGE 2008
- ^ Sistema IBGE 2000
- ^ a b Afrobras - DNA do negro
- ^ a b As pesquisas na Bahia sobre os afro-brasileiros
- ^ BBCBrasil.com - Notícias - Raízes Afro-brasileiras
- ^ a b DNAPrint Genomics Genealogy website
- ^ A mestiçagem é sinônimo de democracia racial?
- ^ HELENA, M; FRANCO, L. P.; WEIMER, Tania A.; SALZANO, F. M. Blood polymorphisms and racial admixture in two Brazilian populations. Departamento de Genética, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6284806.stm
Further reading
- Ankerl, Guy. Coexisting Contemporary Civilizations: Arabo-Muslim, Bharati, Chinese, and Western. 2000, Geneva. INUPRESS, ISBN 2881550045. Pp. 187-210.
External links
- Portal Afro (Portuguese)
- Afro Brazilian Connection
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
