Culture Class Project

By
Maddy Cope

Table of Contents
Required reading: 2-3 pages
Brazil on the Rise: The Story of a Country Transformed (289) 2
Captains of the Sands (300) 4
O quarto de despejo (190) 6
Brazil: Five Centuries of Change (250) 8

Required Cultural Write-ups: 350 words

Fruits and Vegetables 10
Non-LDS religious service 12
Cemetery 14
Brazilian Political Parties 16
Museum 18
Cultural Event 20
Overall Experience 22

Chosen Cultural Write-ups: 750 words

Racial Discrimination 24
Military Dictatorships and Brazil’s Contemporary Culture 28
Church Pioneer 31

1
 Brazil on the Rise: The Story of a Country Transformed

I began reading this book before I came to Brazil, but the longer I have been here the

more I am able to see the connections from what the books says to contemporary Brazilian

culture and life. Instead of beginning with contemporary culture, however, Rohter gave some

background on Portugal’s discovery of Brazil and how the government has shaped and

created the culture in Brazil.

One of the main issues that the book addresses is the issue of Brazil’s status in the world.

From a U.S. citizen’s point of view, Brazil is little more than beaches, samba, and soccer. It’s not

considered a major world power, and most U.S. citizens don’t know very much about Brazilian

politics at all, myself included. What I learned as I read this book is that although Brazil ahs this

enormous capacity to be a major world power, it isn’t. Even though Brazil has large amounts of

natural resources and is becoming a more developed country, it doesn’t have the same prestige

that nations in Europe and North America have, and I think that most of that is due to the poor

foundation that Brazil was given when it was colonized.

Essentially, Brazil was never meant to be more than a financial investment, which meant

that there was a cycle of “booms and busts”. There was the gold rush, and the coffee rush, the

sugar rush, and currently there seems to be a petroleum rush, but each one has thus far ended up

collapsing on itself and creating other problems. Most of this is due to a lack of long term

planning, which seems to have plagued Brazil for more than just it’s colonial days. The most

impressionable example of this is that of Brazil’s economy, which was been slowed for decades

by inflation. The inflation has been followed by multiple changes in currency and economic

plans, but until O Plano Real, none of the changes were beneficial for long periods of time.

2
 Besides economic troubles, Brazil’s government has been unstable for arguably centuries.

From colonies, 14-year-old emperors, and military dictatorships to republics and democracies,

Brazilian has spanned what seems to be the entire spectrum of governmental systems. This

change could perhaps also be attributed to the lack of long terming planning in Brazilian culture.

Although it’s slightly difficult to see the effect of government and economy on the day-

to-day lives of Brazilians, it is easier to see what Rohter explained about culture, specifically

about soccer, the beach, and cultural cannibalism. It’s probably a slight exaggeration that all

Brazilians love soccer, but it is true that it’s a core part of their culture. In the U.S., each city has

a few soccer fields. In Brazil, each street has a few soccer fields. Streets are empty when big

soccer games start. Kids start kicking soccer balls around right when they start walking around,

and it’s probably one of the few things that will make bahians rowdy.

Rohter also talks about the “myth of a racial paradise”. Brazil, in spite of its reputation,

has serious issues with racial discrimination. One specifically interesting issue is that of racism

from blacks against blacks; even blacks are racist against their own race in Brazil. He also notes

that candomblé doesn’t aid in the issues of racism, but enhances them. Although racism was

never institutionalized in Brazil as it was in the U.S., but Rohter submits that racism is part of a

deeper social code that would be more difficult to change.

In all of the chapters of this book, however, what I learned the most has been stated

above already. Brazil is the country of the future—but the future never quite comes. It has

enormous potential but also serious flaws, and until some of the political and economic flaws are

fixed, Brazil will stay where it is.

98% read.

3
 Captains of the Sands

Amado takes what each of us feels and rarifies it in the simplicity of life. He takes our

desires and makes them legitimate, he takes our pains and makes them more real, and he does it

by telling the story of boys who have less than I have ever imagined a person could have.

Through each of the captains he shows the need for belonging and love; each child needed a

mother figure, someone they knew would love them without condition. Amado shows sensuality,

jealousy, confusion, piety, and a multitude of other emotions and desires in these young boys in

such a way that it becomes difficult to imagine that life is any other way than as he portrays it,

but he also portrays them in such a way that we can find the same vices, emotions, and desires in

ourselves.

I suppose that in a way Amado was finding a way to take human nature and emotions and

show them for what they really are. We are constantly surrounded by them, and becomes of their

ubiquity we perceive them to be average and commonplace. They lose their wonder. Amado

revolutionizes the way we look at them, using Salvador and Bahia as his background. In all

honesty, this book could have been placed anywhere, as long as the author was deeply

acquainted with the place. The emotions are human, the reactions are human, but Amado shows

us that they are just as phenomenal as they are human. He is bahian, but before he was bahian he

was human; he could have been born anywhere and found the same truths.

Amado forces the reader to change their point of view. Undoubtedly, most who read this

book are well educated, in favor of a reduction in crime and reformation of criminals. That

position becomes more difficult to keep as the criminals receive personalities, faults and virtues,

and as it becomes obvious that their opposition is just as flawed and perhaps more brutal. There

is no reasonable choice other than to side with the Captains of the Sands, the only ones who

4
seem to have the smallest sense of loyalty. He makes us doubt out convictions but he validates

our pain.

Somehow the trials and the temptations that these boys experience, rather than belittle our

own problems, create empathy. It could be that the mixed locus of control is responsible for this.

Each of the children in the book is not wholly responsible for the current condition of their life;

none had chosen the death of their parents, none had chosen poverty, and because they didn’t

chose the painful life they led, we could pity them. As much as each child seemed placed in their

own life, however, they were their own agents. They were free to choose what they did, and they

chose a code of sorts. They didn’t adhere to traditional morals because they didn’t always know

what they were, but they found their own morals. For example, sexual immorality was a common

occurrence; keeping what you earned away from the group was not so acceptable.

I’m still not entirely sure who a book that has so much wrong in it could move me so

much. There was so much pain and anger, and to be quite frank, so much disobedience and sin,

but maybe it was because of, rather in spite of, these things that I felt such a different person

after reading it. Perhaps it was because despite all the bad, I knew that Pedro Ballas was good,

and that despite all the pain, there was some joy. Perhaps it was because my joy is more poignant

and more defined; perhaps it is because it also made my pain more defined, that I am changed.

100% read. And adored.

5
 O Quarto de despejo

O Quarto de despejo is the diary of Carolina Maria de Jesus, who lived in the favelas of

Sao Paulo in the late 1950’s. Although she wasn’t well educated, she really loved to read and

write, and her journal was a way that she could distance herself from the favela even when she

couldn’t leave it. It is easy, even for non-native speakers, to find grammatical and orthographical

errors in her writing. In spite of these errors, or perhaps because of them, Carolina is able to

capture life in the favela.

When I read, I began to realize that with little exception, each of Carolina’s days were

very similar. She gets up and gets water, she cooks breakfast, if there is anything to be made, and

then she goes out to gather paper or metal to sell, and then she comes home and feeds her

children. If it rains, she stays home and writes. If there is a fight in the favela, she notices, and if

it gets violent, it is Carolina who calls the police. She meets men who say they want to sleep with

her and she ignores them. She struggles for money. She washes her laundry by hand. She hopes

to find shoes for her kids, or money to buy shoes for them. She lives the life of a favelada, but

she doesn’t have the mind of a favelada.

Although Carolina lives in the favela, she isn’t quite part of it. She’s intimately aware of

its workings and the thoughts of those who live in the favela, but she despises it. It’s easy to see

how much she hates sexual promiscuity through her treatment of men; she repeatedly notes how

life is easier without them. She hates the constant gossiping of the women and she hates to see

young children out of school, smoking and drinking. More than almost anything, she wants to get

out of the favela. The issue, of course, is financial. Carolina doesn’t have enough money to move

out and she doesn’t have a way to get a job, so she has to keep digging through trashcans and

scrapping money together where she can.

6
 It was interesting to contrast this book to Captains of the Sands, because although both

detail the life of the lower class in Brazil, Carolina doesn’t ennoble or glorify her way of life at

all. Where Amado seems to dignify the life of the poor, and show the happiness that can be

found even in sickness and death and crime, Carolina shows the sadness that also pervades.

There are some days where she wakes up singing and she is glad to be alive, but it’s almost

certain that the next day she will wake up sad or angry, and even discusses suicide several times.

The hardest thing to read, however, was not a paragraph or a section of the book at all,

but the overarching theme that Carolina couldn’t really do anything about her circumstances,

and sometimes she felt like she shouldn’t even try. It wasn’t that she wasn’t trying; she worked

hard and she was trying to get her book published. The prejudices against her, as a black

favelada, inhibited change in her life. There were also several times when she was told “it’s a

shame you’re a black woman,” especially in regards to her writing; even though she was

talented, her race and sex were enough to impede financial improvement.

The best thing to notice was how much Carolina wanted to take care of her kids,

especially in contrast to how the other women in the favela took care of their own kids. Carolina

knew what foods her kids like and what they liked to do, and she wanted them so badly to go to

school and receive educations. Other children in the favela had no such luck, and often were born

into families where the mother and father were generally drunk, or perhaps even where they were

forgotten and subsequently starved to death.

In short, Carolina was not characteristic of the favelas. I don’t think that she really

actually belonged there, but her presence there allows us to study life in the favela as well as

sadness and happiness in extreme poverty.

100% read.

7
 Brazil: Five Centuries of Change

This was the last book that I read for this assignment, and the third or fourth that I have

read on Brazilian history, to say nothing of the Brazilian Civilization class that I have also

completed. Because I have already been familiarized with Brazil’s past, I expected the book to

mainly review what I already knew, and while that was true in large part, this book also helped

me identify the why it is that Brazil has the structure and culture that it does.

For example, there are a few direct results of the colonization of Brazil on the education

of Brazil. For a long time, there weren’t any universities in Brazil; those who wanted an

education had to travel to the University of Coimbra in Portugal, or to other universities in

France or other European countries. This means that education systems in Brazil have not been

in place for as long as education systems in other colonized countries. It also means that there

was more of a wealth gap between those who were educated and those who were not; only those

who were wealthy could afford good educations. Those who could not afford them—the majority

of the population—didn’t get them.

A lack of universities in Brazil also affected Brazilian independence and the declaration

of its republic. In other American countries, universities were the beginnings of revolutionary

ideas and plans. Brazil, without any universities, did not have the same grassroots efforts towards

a republic as the U.S. did. Instead, a monarch declared their first independence, and their first

republic was declared by the military.

The author also addressed a very important question that I had regarding racism and

slavery. Several of the books that I have read have stated that after the Golden Law (A Lei

Aurea) in 1889, freed slaves experienced an extreme reduction in their quality of life; they had

not jobs and no homes, and some even thought it would be better to be a slave than to have

8
nothing at all. This really perplexed me; how could so many freed slaves have nowhere to work

when they had just vacated thousands upon thousands of jobs? Weren’t their previous owners

looking for employees?

The answer is, of course, yes. But they didn’t look for employees among those of African

descent. In fact, they largely distrusted the black and mulatto population, and refrained from

hiring them whenever possible. Instead, they turned to more recent European immigrants,

especially Italians. Although it’s difficult to say that this decision and mistrust has caused a

racial wealth gap, I do think the two are correlated at least. Perhaps if more mulattos and blacks

had been able to retain jobs, they would occupy more of the middle class—although I suppose

that someone always has to be in the lower class. Perhaps this would have minimized the gap

between classes and also allowed wealth to be spread more evenly regardless of race.

This book also talked quite a bit about Lula and his ministry, as the book was published

during his second term in office. It was interesting to see the difference between how Lula was

perceived during his presidency and how the public currently perceives him. From my Brazilian

friends I had the impression that he was slightly corrupt and slightly unintelligent, and that he

wasn’t a very good president at all. On the other hand, this book outlined Lula’s achievements in

labor as well as working with other countries with respect to national resources. This was,

however, before the end of his second term and before several scandals.

Although this book was mainly a review, it facilitated a better understanding of why

Brazil is the way it is.

95% read.

9
Portuguese Name English Name Picture
Acerola Barbados Cherry.
Delicious juice.
Apparently has more
vitamin C than oranges,
but that’s just according
to our host mom.

Graviola Sour sop

Umbú Brazil Plum. Really good

ice cream flavor, as it
turns out.

Caqui Persimmon. To be
honest, I knew what this
was, but it didn’t look
like the persimmons I’ve
eaten and it didn’t taste
like them either. It was
pretty confusing when I
thought that there was a
tomato mixed in with my
pineapple.

10
Mamona Castor Oil Plant

Chuchu Chayote. This is not

good.

Tamarindo Tamarind. I think I’ve

only had it in juices.

Cajá No translation. Excellent

juice. Also, there is a cajá
tree on the hill going
down to the beach.

11
 Cultural Experience: Catholic Mass

The Mass that we attended was in a small chapel located in Ondina, right by the beach. I

found the Mass most interesting from I think an anthropological state of mind, especially in

comparison to the LDS church, but it also made me think about the way people best learn

and efficient ways to teach.

For most of the Mass, I had very little idea of what was going on. I wasn't sure when to

sit or stand or respond, and even if I felt like I was supposed to respond, often enough I didn't

know what words to respond with. The overall effect was a pretty deep confusion, and it made

me reflect on LDS meetings and the investigators that attend those meetings for the first time.

Are they as confused, or is the confusion slightly less just because participation in sacrament is

more minimal?

When I looked at the principles of teaching that I consider important, I felt like both

Catholic Mass and LDS meetings are often lacking. Coincidentally, I was talking to Doug about

poor teaching in LDS classes right before Mass began. We identified some major common

errors, especially in those who are new to teaching. Frequently teachers ask, “What’s in my

pocket” questions, which drive out the Spirit and discourage participation. Another frequent error

is when a teacher fails to incorporate an unexpected answer into the lesson, preferring to respond

with a vague affirmative. Catholic Mass obviously doesn’t incorporate the same kinds of

questions appropriate in a Sunday school class, but I did locate several aspects that made it

difficult for me to pay attention or really to have any take away from the Mass at all.

1. Different languages were used. Obviously it was in Portuguese, but there was also some

Latin and Spanish thrown in that threw me a bit.

12
 2. It was extremely repetitive. I know that repetition is good for memorization, but

sometimes memorizing takes meaning away from the words and allows you to say things

without thinking about what they really mean.

3. Most of the segments were simply read. When prolonged passages are read, it's extremely

easy to pay very little attention.

4. Even though I could (potentially) follow along, it was difficult to find where it was that I

was supposed to follow along.

Basically, what I learned from the Mass is that if I am supposed to teach, I follow these

rules: don’t read long passages, ask good questions, incorporate the questions into the lesson, and

try to stick to one language.

13
 Cemetery Visit

The cemetery, Campo Santo, was on a Avenida Cardeal da Silva, and it was probably one

of the classiest cemeteries I have ever visited, although perhaps that isn’t saying much. In the

U.S., a majority of the graves I have seen have relatively small and simple headstones. Some of

the headstones don’t even stand up—they are laid horizontally in or on the ground, and while

there are a few mausoleums, most graves are really quite similar. Cemeteries are generally large

plots of land, covered in grass and big trees, and are generally really peaceful, even if at times

they are creepy.

This Brazilian cemetery, however, was quite different. There was very little free space,

although that could be attributed to the locale of the cemetery; there’s never lots of space in

cities. There was no grass at all, even though there were trees. There were basically three kinds

of graves. The first seemed to be the most simple, and were essentially shelves—or at least that’s

what Aubrey and I described them as. Each “shelf” or “drawer”, as it were, was about two feet

wide and a foot tall, white, detailed the birth and death of the occupant, and had little else.

Sometimes there was a little shelf (outside the larger “shelf”, if you will) for flowers.

The second type of grave seemed to skip from lower class to upper class. Theses graves

looked like they were simple huge stone coffins sitting above the ground, although that phrasing

makes it sound a lot less classy than it was. Sometimes these graves were doublewide and

housed several members of the same family. I think that if the graves ended at that, I wouldn’t

have been shocked, but what really surprised me were how many sculptures there were in the

cemetery. Practically every grave had some kind of elaborate sculpture, whether it was a Pietà or

Faith, Hope, and Charity as angels. Although there are sculptures like this in American

cemeteries, I don’t think they are as prevalent, and I also think that the use of symbolism is less

14
in U.S. cemeteries. Also there were cats. That also might not be a Brazilian thing, but it was

definitely in contrast to American cemeteries.

The last type of grave was the mausoleum. There weren’t nearly as many of these as the

shelf graves or the upper class graves, but these mausoleums put all the sculptures to shame.

They all seemed to be made of either granite or marble and were larger, I think, than some of the

houses in the favelas, in width at least if not height.

One thing that really stood out to me was the wording on most of the headstones, which

read some version of “Jazigo Perpetuo”. This phrase really caught my eye because lately I’ve

been rereading the Book of Mormon in Portuguese and this word was used a few times. The

literal translation of “jazer” is just “to lie down”, and I had been reading the scriptures as such.

However, I’ve never heard the word outside this context, and as I looked at it hundreds of times

in the cemetery, I thought that it might be possible that the word “jazer” has the connotation of

morbidity, which changes the meaning and my thoughts on the scriptures where it was used.

15
 Brazilian Political Parties

Initial Name Position

PT Partido dos Trabalhadores Left wing—far left

PMDB Partido do Movimento

Democrático Brasileiro Center
PSDB Partido da Social Democracia Center left
Brasileira
PP Partido Progressista Center right

PSD Partido Social Democrático Center right

PSB Partido Socialista Brasileiro Center left/left wing

PR Partido da República center

PTB Partido Trabalhista Brasileiro Center

PRB Partido Republicano Brasileiro Center

DEM Democratas Right wing

PDT Partido Democrático Center left/ left wing

Trabalhista

SD Solidariedade Center

PSC Partido Social Cristão Right wing

PROS Partido Republicano da Center

Ordem Social

16
 PPS Partido Popular Socialista Center left

PC do B Partido Comunista do Brasil Far left

PV Partido Verde Center Left

PSOL Partido Socialismo e Far left

Liberdade

PHS Partido Humanista da Center

Soliedariedade

PTN Partido Trabalhista Nacional Center

PMN Partido da Mobilização Center left

Nacional

PEN Partido Ecológico Nacional Center

PSCD Partido Social Democrata Center Right

Cristão

PTC Partido Trabalhista Cristão Center Right

PT do B Partido Trabalhista do Brasil Center

PSL Partido Social Liberal Center right

PRTB Partido Renovador Trabalhista Right wing

Brasileiro

17
 Museum Visit: Carlos Costa Pinto

Generally speaking, I like museums. I think they are interesting and fun to look at, and

there are so many things to learn about the past and how people lived before us, and I almost

never say no to a museum visit. While I did like the museum, it made me think a lot about

they way we live and how we make sacrifices for one thing or another depending on our

priorities.

The Carlos Costa Pinto Museum was actually put together by his wife after Carlos had

died, and is essentially a collection of art, jewelry, and other household items from early

Brazilian history. There were paintings, furniture, collections of Pinto’s everyday items, plates,

and pieces like balangadã from the 1800’s. There was a large amount of silver, whether they

were plates or vases or cups, because silver was an investment, and if necessary could be melted

down and sold. There was china and also lots of medals (although I’m not sure that they were all

necessarily Pinto’s), and an entire room dedicated to jewelry; it was full of rings and enormous

necklaces made of coral, turtle shell, and crystals.

Each of the displays was accompanied with little explanations, detailing the use of the

object, what it was made of, or why most people wanted it, and it was really quite interesting. In

fact, I really liked a lot of the impressionist artwork that was in one of the hallways. Overall, I

think that I would have thoroughly enjoyed the museum if it weren’t for one small thought in the

back of my head: “wow, that must really be worth a lot.” I couldn’t help thinking about the

poverty that I have seen so far in Brazil and I couldn’t help but think that there were all these

resources sitting in this museum for people to look at and appreciate. I know that it is important

to remember our past, so that we can learn from our mistakes, and I think that we can learn a lot

18
from other cultures and who culture changes. It was hard for me, however, to look at the displays

of opulence and be ok with it.

19
 O Balé Folclórico

One of the cultural activities that was planned for us was the Balé Folclórico, which

consisted of a small group of dancers who preform in O Pelourinho. I had been previously

warned that although the title intimated ballet of the American and European sort, the

performance wouldn’t really be anything like it, so I was somewhat prepared for what followed.

True to the warning, there were no tights, no leotards, and definitely no classical music.

The curtains opened to drummers and singers performing various African songs that are a world

apart from classical music. After the musicians played for a little while, the dancers came out.

They were wearing either simple white costumes or the intricate costumes carrying symbols that

represent various orixás, or spirits. The dance is probably best described as strictly African,

although that doesn’t quite do any justice to it at all. There were hints of samba, there was

interaction between the orixás even though they never spoke, and the whole time there was the

background of the drums and singers.

If I’m completely honest, the first number slightly bored me. It was not very complex and

it wasn’t very interesting, and I think that for a while I needed to get used to this different form

of dancing and art that I wasn’t used to at all. I found myself thinking, “I need to appreciate this

for what it is, not what I’m used to,” because at some level I recognized that the performance

was impressive to somebody, even if not to me. My opinion changed, however, as more and

more numbers went by. Some of the numbers incorporated pieces of Bahian culture that I was

more familiar with; for example, I recognized capoeira and samba and could even guess at the

identity of the orixás based on their clothing, dance, and symbols. Perhaps it was because the

rhythms were faster or because the steps were more intricate, but with each passing number I felt

20
my jaw drop just a little bit more, and maybe I can hope that it was because I was beginning to

appreciate the art for what it was.

21
 Final Response

This trip has been interesting. I had expected to come to Brazil and to be interviewing

families all the time; instead, I did three interviews in the final weeks. I expected that my

Portuguese would be greatly improved; instead, I realized that I just needed a little bit more

confidence and a lot more vocabulary. I expected to be at ease at all times; instead, a lot of my

limits were tested.

One of the hardest things about this trip was that my expectations weren’t met,

especially with regards to the research we have done. I became frustrated quickly during

meetings that seemed to accomplish little and I was unable to set up interviews on my own

because of a lack of contacts in Brazil. I felt very quickly that I had very little control over how

much research I did, and that frustrated me. I was scared that I would go home having done

almost nothing, and when people would ask about the research I was supposed to be doing, I

would only be able to say that I had essentially had been on vacation for six weeks. I know that a

six week vacation is a strange thing to complain about, but I was scared of feeling like I hadn’t

fulfilled my purpose.

If my purpose in Salvador was solely those ten interviews that I was supposed to have

done, then I really have failed. However, I don’t think that they are the only reason that I came to

Brazil. I didn’t do all the interviews that I thought I would, but I learned several other things. I

got to know Brazilians like I never have before. I was able to learn more about their culture and

the way they live, and it helped me to be able to understand their politics a little more. I really

was able to improve my vocabulary and my confidence in Portuguese. I was able to build

phenomenal relationships with the others in our group, and I think the friendships we made will

last for years. And honestly, I really needed to get out of Provo. I needed to take a break from

22
working myself hard every day. Coming to Brazil wasn’t what I thought it would be, but I think

that it was really what I needed. I wouldn’t give it up for anything.

23
 Racial Discrimination

I’m not sure that my ideas about racial discrimination in Brazil would have

solidified if it weren’t for a visit to an old Catholic church in O Pelourinho. When we entered the

chapel, our tour guide explained to us that the slaves were kept in the back corners of the chapel

where it was physically impossible to see the actual proceedings of the service. In fact, the only

thing that the slaves could see was a black saint in an alcove near them. To be honest, this detail

really confused me. Did the architect design the chapel in order to inhibit the slave’s view of the

service, or was it only after the construction that it was realized and then utilized? Was it just a

strange coincidence? If the Catholic Church wanted to save people and did so by conversion and

baptism, why did they want to exclude the slaves so severely? These questions led me to review

my experience thus far in Brazil in regard to racial discrimination. I discovered that Brazil

experienced much more racism than I expected.

Although I had read several articles about racial discrimination in Brazil previous to

coming, my first real experience in seeing and understanding racial differences and, by

extension, class status, began when we met our host families. As we sat with our group and

chatted with our host moms in the Sheraton Hotel, I realized that not a single one of our mothers

was of African descent--or, rather, if they were of African descent, it was of a negligible amount.

I think that I first realized this because every single one of my Brazilian friends that I had in Utah

had told me that population in Salvador would be primarily black, and I thought it strange that

each of our mothers was light skinned, even if they weren’t necessarily of northern European

descent. However, I did not connect their skin color to financial status until I had spent about a

week in Salvador and began to realize the social structure based on finances, which were in turn

based on (at least loosely) race.

24
 The bairro that I live in is predominantly white. Although this doesn’t mean that there

aren’t a lot of black people who pass through here, it does mean that the people who reside here

are generally of European descent. As we traveled more extensively throughout Salvador and the

cities around it, I began to realize that what I had considered to be fairly humble circumstances

were really the conditions of the middle class, and that the middle class is predominantly of

European descent. Many of those who work in my bairro are of African descent. For example,

our doorman, our maid, and those who run the bancos on the street are generally speaking black.

Although I’m sure that there is an indigenous population in Salvador, and there is obviously one

in Brazil as a country, I have either had difficulty identifying it or it is not very large. It could be,

however, that the indigenous population could be loosely joined to the afro-Brazilian population

in terms of economic status.

Another illuminating experience with regard to race occurred during a lecture on

affirmative action in Brazil. Several graphs were presented outlining the percentage of black and

white citizens who attend school in Brazil in primary (ages 5-12), secondary (ages 12-17), and

tertiary education (graduate and postgraduate degrees). Although there is almost no discrepancy

between attendance and races in primary levels of education, there is a steep drop-off in the

upper levels of education. By this I mean that the levels as a whole drop off--there is 84%

attendance in primary levels but only 20% attendance in colleges--but also that those who have

higher education are also predominantly white. Looking at these data, it is apparent that race is at

least correlated in the levels of education, but I found it difficult to believe that it was the cause.

The lecture validated my previous thought that black Brazilians are generally speaking of a lower

economic status. One of the reasons that they have lower levels of higher education is because

they can’t pay for private high school educations that prepare specifically for the vestibular, the

25
college entrance exam. Once affirmative action plans were put into place, however, it was noted

that those publicly educated students performed just as well as those who were privileged to have

a private education.

Essentially, this means that the discrimination is first monetary. Those who have money

can afford to prepare for the vestibular, which is not necessarily an accurate predictor of success

in college. Those who do not have money don’t have the same benefit and don’t do as well, but

that doesn’t necessarily mean that they are any less capable than their wealthier counterparts. It

just happens to be--although I wouldn’t quite call it a coincidence--that those of lower economic

class are generally of African descent. It’s not quite a coincidence because their low economic

status stems from the institution of slavery and its aftermath, and those are clearly issues of

racism. However, there are white families that are impoverished and black families that are

wealthy, although perhaps they are the exceptions to the rule.

The lecture probably left me with more questions than I had began with. Will there be a

time when economic status will even out with regards to race? How efficient is affirmative

action in changing economic status? How much time will pass before it takes effect? Will races

blend enough through interracial marriages so that eventually affirmative action will only be

based on income and not on race? If so, how long would that take? Is affirmative action even the

best way to combat racial discrimination or does it enforce it? Is there a different way to stop

racial discrimination on an educational or economic level?

I think that one thing that makes the issue of racial discrimination difficult is human

nature itself. We are used to playing “one of these is not like the other” and excluding. It might

be that once races blur we will find other ways to discriminate, perhaps based on height or

weight or whether or not you have an innie or outie belly button or some other strange

26
uncontrollable physically or mental feature. Humans like to compare and to be set people apart. I

suppose the question is whether we decide that humans will always discriminate on some

grounds and therefore we should just let it be, or if we decide that discrimination is wrong and

decide to fight against it, even if it constantly reoccurs.

27
 Military Dictators and Their Effect on Brazil

Brazil’s first dictatorship began with Getulio Vargas in 1930, who was the President of

Brazil until he declared himself a dictator after a perceived communist threat. After Vargas is

removed from power, a shaky republic is put into place. However, in 1964, João Goulart was

deposed in a bloodless military coup, and Brazil remained a military dictatorship until 1985,

when open elections were finally reinstated. During each of these dictatorships, censure of the

press and media was practiced, those who opposed the dictatorship were captured and tortured,

and the people of Brazil had little say in the laws that were enacted. These dictatorships have

changed the way that Brazilians think about their political processes; they are much more

wary of the possibility of a dictatorship.

There are differences between the two dictatorships, however. Vargas was actually by

and far a well respected and well liked leader. He was called “O Pai dos Pobres” because of

certain measures he took to reduce the number of starving Brazilians. In most American minds,

the word dictator is automatically associated with something evil and wrong; while I’m willing

to wager that a majority of Brazilians think the same thing now, many Brazilians also consider

Getulio Vargas to be a great man.

The second dictatorship, however, was different. There was extreme censure, and those

who spoke out against the dictatorship were often exiled or captured and tortured. There were

severe acts put in to place; for example, AI-5 allowed for the legal torture of those thought to be

opposed to the dictatorship and suspended habeas corpus. I think that when most Brazilians think

about dictatorship, they think about this period.

Since the second dictatorship wasn’t really all that long ago, there are still many

Brazilians who remember not just how the dictatorship was but also how it began. Given

28
Brazil’s current political state, many of Brazilians are also worried about the possibility of a

second military overthrow. All over Salvador there is graffiti on the walls, and although some if

it is generic and obscene, some of it says things like “Fora Golpista,” which is a reference to the

“golpes militares” that have happened in the past.

Although the current politically status in the U.S. isn’t quite comparable to the Brazilian

political status, I have noticed a few differences in how the common person reacts to political

crises. In the U.S., a common reaction to Donald Trump’s candidacy is a groan and suggestion

that we all move to Canada. Although not everyone likes the current candidates, no one is scared

that there will be some kind of military takeover. In Brazil, however, the instability of the

government immediately brings to mind a military threat. In the U.S., we would never consider

the possibility; in Brazil, the possibility of a military coup has already been made a reality twice,

and perhaps the reality of these coups make Brazilians even more worried. They know what it is

like to have their rights restricted.

Aside from political effects, the previous military dictatorships have had economic

effects on modern Brazil. Brazil has had to go through several economic reforms, most of which

haven’t worked. The current plan, O Plano Real, works better than others have but is still quite

weak when the real is compared to the dollar. Some of this instability is due to shortsightedness

on the part of those who have enacted the plans. Some of the leaders who introduced plans tried

to freeze inflation, but ended up freezing the economy entirely. Some of the plans didn’t freeze

inflation at all! Although Brazil’s economy could be blamed on several things, like a lack of

industrialization, I think that Brazil’s inability to excel financially and economically is in part

because of its stints as a military dictatorship. Perhaps if Brazilians as a whole had had more of

29
an opportunity to participate in their government, certain economic steps would have been taken

to help make Brazil an economic world power much sooner and much more efficiently.

30
 A Church Pioneer

I met Thais Nascimento at a ward party that I really hadn’t even planned to go to. I had

just finished playing soccer, but I hadn’t played for as long as I thought I would, and since the

church was on the way back to my house from the soccer field, I hopped on a bus that would

take me there.

I was pretty severely underdressed for the occasion; it was a dance and I was wearing a

sweaty t-shirt and shorts with my Nikes, and so I hesitated a bit to walk into the actual dance.

While I was waiting outside, I ran into some of the other BYU students and the sister

missionaries, and they introduced me to this extremely skinny, extremely tall, extremely pretty

young woman. I didn’t talk to her much right then, but later on when I started playing soccer in

the back parking lot of the chapel, we started to get to know each other.

Thais is 19, which is a lot older than I would have pegged her for, and she was baptized

four months ago. She’s the first in her family to be baptized, and she really wants to serve a

mission as soon as possible. The more I talked to her, the more I was interested in her story, and

so I finally asked if I could talk to her slightly more formally for one of my school papers, and

she enthusiastically agreed.

One of the main reasons I was interested in her story was because she told me that she

had made mistakes. Although she was not explicit at first, she told me that she made a pretty big

mistake, bigger than most people’s, and that she was really sorry about it. I quickly assured her

that as long as she knew that what she had done was wrong, and she was taking the steps to fix it

and repent, that it was ok. I know that on an intellectual level, she was following me, but I think

that part of her despaired of ever being forgiven. I suppose that was part of what drew me to her;

31
I really wanted her to know that it really could be better, because I knew both spiritually and

intellectually that she really could be forgiven.

Thais told me about her conversion story, and honestly it sounded like a lot of stories I

have already heard; she met the missionaries on the street, and then asked if they could meet with

her later. They came, but she didn’t like them much—her reason was that they told her she had to

be married and have kids in order to go to heaven, and her response was that she wasn’t a cow;

she didn’t just exist to breed. So she told the elders not to come back, but when new elders got

transferred in, they came anyway, and eventually she met an Elder that she liked. I have mixed

feelings about this Elder; he wasn’t as obedient as he should be, but without him Thais wouldn’t

ever have received her testimony. Thais was essentially baptized because she knew that this

Elder wouldn’t marry her if she wasn’t baptized.

That was a little upsetting to me. It was something I had personally tried to avoid at all

costs on my mission. I hated the idea that someone would join because I was there and leave

because I was not. I suppose Thais is different because she stayed. She stayed and she made

mistakes, but she is getting better. She was committed from the beginning, however. She told me

that most of her friends stopped talking to her and that her mother was against it, but she had

decided and followed through. She also said that she recognized the Spirit when she was

baptized, and that she wants everyone to feel the same thing. When I asked her when she decided

she wanted to serve a mission, she said that she had always wanted to, ever since she was little

and didn’t even know about the church. She had always wanted to help people, and now she had

a way to give people the best help they could get.

My favorite thing that Thais said, though, was in reaction to a question that I had thought

would be pretty routine. I asked her what she thought was the hardest thing about being a

32
member of the church. I expected her to say that some of the lifestyle changes were hard, or it

was hard to have less support from her friends, or that having a calling was lot of responsibility

and that was hard. Instead, she just looked at me a little quizzically and told me that being a

member of the church wasn’t hard. She told me that there were too many good things for it to be

hard. She told me that you just have to do it. When I asked her if her calling was hard, she said

no. I’m pretty sure her calling is like six callings jammed into one; she is a visiting teaching

coordinator and she plans activities and she keeps tabs on the needs of the sisters, and I think she

is also technically supposed to help in Primary.

Talking to Thais was a little eye opening in two ways. First, I realized how much I knew

in comparison to her. There were little intricacies in the church that she wasn’t aware of, some

deeper knowledge that honestly isn’t essential to exaltation, and obviously I’ve been endowed.

On the other hand, I feel like Thais knew a lot of things that took me a long time to understand,

even though I’ve been a member of the church my whole life. Thais has a lot to offer. I suppose

that’s because even though she hasn’t been part of our church for very long, she has always been

a daughter of her Heavenly Father, and that means that she has worth no matter what; if I can’t

find it, that doesn’t mean it isn’t there.

33