XVII Congress of the Brazilian Studies Association

Rethinking Racial Hierarchies: Immigration, Ethnicity, and the Built Environment in São Paulo (SESSION II)

Session Submission Type: Complete Panel

Abstract

In the Brazilian popular imagination, São Paulo has long been celebrated as a melting pot of cultures, languages, and traditions. One need only think of how dishes like gnocchi and yakisoba, kibes and stroganoff have become hallmarks of the city’s cuisine, powerful symbols of both its immigrant past and modern-day cosmopolitanism. But the celebration of the city’s history of immigration at the turn of the 20th century, particularly from countries in Europe and Asia, has often obfuscated the roles played by ‘nationals’--namely, African and indigenous peoples whose presence often preceded and overlapped with these relative newcomers--in the development of the city’s culture and politics. The myth of Brazilian “racial democracy” continues to elide a basic truth about the history and deification of Sao Paulo: here, not all groups have been considered equal.

This two-session panel seeks papers that address the following questions: How do we rethink the racial hierarchies of the city of São Paulo vis-a-vis the narrative that has been told about it? What kind of cross racial relations might have been looked over for the sake of maintaining a clear racial order? In what ways does the built environment shape ethnicity and vice-versa? What can a comparative study of São Paulo and another urban reality tell us about its relationship with its immigrant communities?

Sub Unit

• XVII Congress of the Brazilian Studies Association

Individual Presentations

• Lombrosians and lombrosianism in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires - Livio Sansone, UFBA

• Re-mapping Italy in São Paulo: Zélia Gattai’s memoir Anarquistas, graça a Deus - Giulia Riccò, University of Michigan

• Celebrating São Paulo: Inclusions and Exclusions in the 1954 IV Centenário Commemorations - Barbara Weinstein, New York University

Chair

• Jeffrey Lesser, Emory University

Session Organizer

• Giulia Riccò, University of Michigan