Customer Reviews

The Brazilian People: The Formation and Meaning of Brazil (University of Florida Center for Latin American Studies)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is really amazing because you'll find the historical formation of Brazil. Since colonial period till today.

The author will explain the formation of this great country and the complex formation of brazilian people. There's no how to understand Brazil without read this book before. This is one of the most complete book I've read abou this country

The Indigenous of Brazil have a historical reality that is often under addressed in Brazil's effort to advocate for its perception as a nation that has attained racial democracy.
In fact, Brazil's emphasis on its African heritage as a result of the slave trade history, all but ignores the first 100 years of Indigenous contact history.

Darcy Ribeiro's research addresses this concern. Brazilian People: The Formation and Meaning of Brazil describes the historical origins of the Brazilian people through the enslavement and genocide of the millions of Indigenous Americans over the course of a century and before the full development of the globalization of the African slave trade. Ironically, the systematic process of colonization via the fathering of children with Indigenous women by invading Europeans served to establish the first true Brazilians. For a nation that finds a good portion of its genetic and cultural heritage resulting from the Indians of Brasil,the author highlights with passion how poorly served the Indians are as a result of a patch-work of government policies that have relegated the surviving Indigenous populations to the interior regions on demarcated reserves, rendering them invisible.

Despite this legacy, which Ribeiro describes as "bith pangs" (p. 316), he views Brazil with a destiny of hope to break through the imposed "cultural silence" (Paulo Freire, 1973); and perhaps the having of voice will release the Indigenous of Brazil from their cloak on invisibility along with many of its other citizens.

This is quite a comprehensive and well thought out book. There are not many books on the anthropology of latin american countries that take an independent look at the issue. Darcy Ribeiro lived with indigenous people, and developed a sincere identification with them. This alternative perspective is present in his books, and this is a summary of many of them. An outstanding work and a must read for those interested in really understanding the construction of a new people.

Excuse me, but the author of this book is Darcy Ribeiro, and not Gustavo Lins Ribeiro.

Of all books I have read about Brazil, this is certainly the one that presents the best analysis over the formation of the Brazilian people. By reading this book one will be able to understand how Brazil was created, how its own identity was forged and how this was linked to its economical cycles.
The Book also presents how the history of Brazil has been marked by the cruel elimination of indigenous people as well as the africans and dismisses the view of Brazil as a peacefull country without great civil wars in its history.