We are used to seeing Latin America as a single homogeneous region. We see the continent as one of a single dominant ethnic majority (Hispanic/Latino), a region where Roman Catholicism dominates and where Iberian culture prevails. However recent reports show that South America, in particular Brazil, is becoming increasingly multicultural through mass immigration and the changing economy.
The reason for this is the fact that South America is seen as one of the fastest growing regions in the world. Leading this South American development is a nation that dominates the country; Brazil. This giant in Latin America has grown rapidly in the last decade and has become one of the rising economic powers of the world, leading to membership in the G20 and critically the BRICS nations. It is the membership to the BRICS that has made Brazil a target for economic migrants. The BBC reported on the Senegalese individuals who saw Brazil as a more viable destination over the flagging economies of Europe and America. These migrants are changing the makeup of Brazil and people are starting to question this homogeneous nature of the state; asking instead what does it mean to be Brazilian?
Firstly I should explain my choice of Brazil as a case study. Although its position as the leading economy makes it an obvious example of the changing nature of South American society, Brazilian culture has always made it a unique nation in the region. I want to delve under the skin of the people of a nation noted for its beauty, its vibrancy and its culture and determine what makes it unique and why its a contradiction to the concept of South America as a single culture.
Brazil, as most people know, is not a successor to the Spanish colonial empire but instead is a legacy left by the exploration of Portuguese explorers. It is a nation that speaks Portuguese, not Spanish, and like its former colonial masters this separation from the Spanish is a key facet of Brazilian culture. Being Portuguese separated Brazil and lead to the formation the Brazilian American indeity as opposed to the Hispanic communities whose heritage is Spanish. Brazil highlights that language is not something that does link all of South America, as is so readily believed. Instead the continent forms an intricate web a linguistic traditions. Alongside Spanish and Portuguese; English, Dutch, French and indigenous languages, such as Quechua and Guarani are all official languages of nations and communities across the continent.
Brazil itself shows it character through its languages. Portuguese dominates but Spanish, Italian and German are prominent European languages spoken and added to the indigenous languages makes Brazil a nation in which an estimated 210 languages are spoken, a fact that confirms Brazil’s multicultural nature. However although language is one of the best outward expressions of national and cultural identity, its real power is to tell us about the people who make up Brazil. It can help us to understand the international roots of the Brazilian people; the ethnic and cultural strands that come together to form the contemporary nation.
The presence of indigenous languages is a reminder that there existed a Brazil before European colonial conquest. Little is known of the history of these indigenous communities, estimated to number over 2,000 at the time of Portuguese colonialism but within modern Brazil many of these communities still exist and present a very different representation of the state. These communities do not inhabit the big sun and samba drenched cities of Rio de Janeiro or Sao Paulo, instead they are communities in tune with the Amazon rainforest. This rainforest has always been emblematic of Brazil and the indigenous communities therefore arguably represent the most authentic representation of what it means to be a Brazilian.
However the indigenous communities are not how the world perceives Brazil. Instead we picture notable figures such as models Gisele Bundchen and Adriana Lima, sportsmen like Pele, Ayrton Senna and Ronaldinho or politicians such as current President, Dilma Rousseff. These are the individuals who represent the Brazil of today and the Brazil of the future. But in analysing the origins of these world famous Brazilians, despite assuming a common Latin ethnicity and culture, we in fact create a complex web of people and cultures.
History is key to understanding the many strands that form Brazil. Like much of the Americas the mass movement of people resulting from the slave trade transformed Brazil. The slave trade brought a different ethnic community to nations like Brazil and through the huge numbers of people who were moved to South America a unique hybrid culture eventually emerged. But like the Brazilian population itself, the slave population that arrived during the 16th and 17th centuries was not a single homogeneous group, as is so often perceived. The slaves were not drawn from a single African source but rather the Portuguese colonists who were responsible for bringing slaves over to Brazil used Portugal’s diverse African colonies as a source of people. Therefore in Brazil there were populations of Africans from Portugal’s trading posts across Africa, many of whom were given names, such as ‘Angola’ or ‘Mozambique’ (Nishida, Mieko. Slavery and Identity: Ethnicity, Gender, and Race in Salvador, Brazil, 1808-1888, pp.31) which reinforced the Portuguese, as opposed to Spanish, influence in the population of the Brazilian population. Slavery ensured that Brazil would forever be a multi-cultural nation, one that encompassed both the European and African communities.
But in addition to the slaving ethnic heritage Brazil is also shown to be a true melting pot of European cultures, of which Portuguese culture is only one aspect. There was mass migration to South America of both Italian and German communities, many arriving in the 19th century in the wake of great change within Europe, and migration has continued through to present day waves of immigration. Where the Italian and German communities created a different concept of being Brazilian in the 19th century the new communities arriving in the country will likely also make their mark.
Today populations of Senegalese immigrants are arriving at the Brazilian borders, but here they are mixing with other communities. Haitians are the biggest population of immigrants to Brazil, largely following the earthquake that devastated the Haitian society and economy. Brazil has actively encouraged Haitian migration through the relaxation of visa restrictions, but on the border there are also Nigerians, Dominicans, Bangladeshis and other South Americans who, like those arriving from round the globe, are attracted by Brazil’s growing economy. Although Los Angeles, New York or London may still be the glittering world capitals the skyscrapers of Rio and Sao Paolo are drawing increasing numbers of people who wish to participate in the growth of Brazil.
For all the global perceptions of South America as a single culture, transferable from country to country, the reality is that there is no single culture we can attribute to South Americans and Brazilians are the very epitome of this. Brazil is a nation which has no single ethnic or cultural identity. We call them Latinos but there are populations of indigenous people who offer a completely version of the Brazilian nation; we talk of Hispanic culture, but Brazil is Portuguese and although Spanish and Portuguese language dominate there are communities who speak German or Italian. Ultimately the only think that links all Brazilians is the fact that all Brazilians are different. This exotic mix of people has created a unique population that nowhere else can replicate and maybe this is the appeal of Brazil and its people?
What we do know is that Brazil should be seen as a truly multicultural nation; one in which being a Brazilian can mean a multitude of things. With the Brazilian economy growing rapidly the country is being seen as a new destination for migrants. There are those, like the BBC reported on, coming from Africa and Asia seeking a better life and there are those coming in to build and development Brazil’s new glittering industries.
We must reject the idea that there is a single South America and a single Brazil, embrace the idea that this nation evolves with each community that arrives and that the concept of being Brazilian will be ever-changing, exotically mixed and better for it.
A Little View of the World 