Who is Brazil?

Like any complex culture, it is unreasonable to try to pin down Brazil to a single, united identity because they do not really have many sweeping characteristics. Sure, there is the cordial man, the mixing of races, and the uniting futebol, but considering any of what I speak about in the coming paragraphs as fact would be unwise as I am only one person who has spent a month in two Brazilian cities. Nevertheless, I will try to use my limited knowledge and unique perspective to define who Brazil is.

Firstly, I do not want to start in the exact way that the prompt for this blog post suggests, but I have been feeling a need to speak on the North American influences that are abundantly apparent in the products, fashion, and architecture of Brazil. The power of international North American brands, such as the brand barons of Coca-Cola, Nestle, and Heinz, are ever present when ordering a burger and listening to North American pop songs in a Brazilian restaurant. I was upset at first at how North American many of the restaurants in Sao Paulo felt, as Brazilians have a very similar diet, except with more natural sources of beef and fruit juice. After a while, though, I realized that Brazilians have a very odd way of eating compared to North Americans. They are extremely worried about being polite, avoiding mess, and keeping themselves clean by holding finger foods with napkins. This is intriguing and made me consider that this may be out of necessity because being unclean could mean infection and death. On the other hand, it may just be that us North Americans eat like our chimpanzee ancestors. Either way it is exciting to see these differences in food culture and being able to ponder their prospective origins.

The people on the street also look like Europeans and North Americans, in both complexion and fashion. But, then again, the complexion makes sense when we have common ancestors. The fashion, though, is the interesting part because Brazilians seem to be at the extremes of North American fashion. The businessmen are all dressed in the finest of suits, while the punk teenagers have one-of-a-kind hairstyles and flashy clothing. I saw more clothing with English than Portuguese, which again may speak to the power of the North American brand, but makes me wonder how popular it is to dress like a North American.

Likewise, the architecture in Brazil is interesting, because you can see such heavy European influences in the southern city of Curitiba and the finance district of Sao Paulo, but such practical, concrete, American buildings on Paulista Ave. This may lead one to think that Brazilian architecture is just a carbon copy of their influences, however that is not the case. Thanks to a few revolutionary architects, Brazil is blessed with unique masterpieces of architecture, such as the South American Museum area in Sao Paulo and the eye-shaped museum in Curitiba.

Nevertheless, the best part about Brazilian buildings is not the architecture, but rather the graffiti. It is impossible to go a block in Sao Paulo without seeing gorgeous graffiti on a building. I feel that this graffiti is very representative of the personality differences between Brazil and its relatives. Most of the graffiti is dominated by long, swooping strokes of vivid color that can go all the way from the top to the bottom of a building. This style makes sense for Brazilians to paint because they mostly work with spontaneity rather than planning, so these veins of color are representative of the pulsing, colorful veins of Brazilian hearts. Likewise, most of the graffiti is graphic and abstract, which lends itself to the expressive, complex emotions of Brazilians. What’s more is that the graffiti itself has a relaxed, spontaneous attitude to it, being that graffiti is traditionally not planned by the state or a business to be made on a building. In the US, these works of art would be scrubbed off the wall the next day, but the Brazilian demeanor of relaxation makes it obvious that these murals would be allowed to stay until they wear away from the weather. I know that these are very general traits that do not apply to all Brazilians, but I feel that a people’s art is the best representation of their inner selves, and can destroy the outside view of Brazil being a less developed United States.

Furthermore, the musical art of Brazilians provides insight of the upmost quality, because Brazilians adore dancing and music. Samba, which would have been impossible without the mixing of Brazil’s many African roots, is perfectly representative of Brazil. Samba is perfect because there are different forms of samba throughout Brazil, but they each have the underlying beat pattern that is integral to Brazilian samba. Not only that, but every Brazilian I have met knows how to dance the samba. Even though I have only observed two cities, neither Sao Paulo nor Curitiba are the origin of samba, yet everyone still knows how to dance to samba.

Another dance that I was impressed by, and found some interesting implications in was forro. Forro is the Brazilian version of salsa, and the difference shows. Like samba, forro (from the male position) is focused on footwork, instead of moving the hips. Yet, it makes perfect sense that forro is different from the salsa that the rest of South America creates, because Brazil is consistently a part of South American culture, yet always stands out from the common shared characteristics. Whether in music, language, or customs, Brazil is always related to, but not the same as the rest of South America. This may be a lingering effect of their shallow language barrier, because it allows Brazilians to interact with Spanish-speaking South Americans, but not to connect as easily as one can with a member of one’s native language.

Likewise, Brazil normally shows similar characteristics to North America, but is never the exact same upon closer inspection. This concept is made clear again in Brazilian funk. Although there is some Brazilian hip hop, which is recognizably the same as North American hip hop, the genre that seems to have more traction among the populace is funk. Funk is an adaptation of North American hip hop, specifically similar to trill and trap, but it is much more focused on the music than the lyrics. I find funk to be intriguing because it gives creation access to the extremely poor in favelas, as funk only requires a laptop. This allows listeners to get a look at either the dark lifestyle of favelas, or the dreams of those living in them with next to nothing, making funk another very organic Brazilian construction. However, this look is not always sparkling. Many of the songs speak of gang rape, eluding to a horrific side of Brazil that is just starting to become a topic of public conversation.

Additionally, capoeira is another Brazilian dance and music tradition, but with a much darker past. Capoeira, being developed by the slaves of Brazil when they were unable to practice martial arts and had bedrooms averaging around 3 feet high, is a prime example of how slavery has left its mark on Brazilian culture. Slavery is an important part of Brazil’s history, so of course capoeira is so important to Brazil when so many Brazilians have enslaved ancestors. Likewise, Brazilians seemingly love to dance, based on how often they do so, so it works out perfectly that their main martial art is also a form of dance. This makes capoeira yet another form of Brazilian’s affinity toward dance, because they would not simply fight without also feeling a rhythm.

Furthermore, another leftover of slavery can be seen in the maids and nannies that seemingly every building in Brazil has. From the hostel, to the HUB, to the house in “The Second Mother”, every building seems to have a maid or nanny working there 24/7. I cannot properly speak on the nannies, as my only contact with that side has been through movies and class, but the way that maids work in Brazil is slightly discomforting. In the United States, a building is used throughout the day, and then a janitor, from any sort of background and complexion, comes in at night and cleans the building one time. In Brazil, the maid is constantly present, and constantly cleaning every little mess that we make, giving an uneasy sense of subservience. These maids get extremely anxious when we refuse their help in any minor task, possibly because they may get into social or professional trouble with their Brazilian employers. Also, I have yet to see a white maid, so it is clear that in Brazil, this role is only to be filled by people of color. Likewise, all of the maids are women of the age of either mothers or grandmothers, implying that they do not get to see or care for their families during their 24 hour shifts. Finally, all of maids I have seen wear a similar uniform of scrubs with blue and white portions. All of these traits of the Brazilian maid are eerily reminiscent of the house slaves depicted in their history, and prove that there are lingering aspects of slavery. Unfortunately, I cannot see an end to this practice because none of the Brazilians I know are bothered by this queer practice.

Nevertheless, I witnessed the extreme connections of family in “The Second Mother” between Val and the boy of the family she was the nanny for. These strong, passionate family connections are very characteristic of the cordial man that I have learned so much about. Unfortunately, it is not very possible to witness the family life of Brazilians first hand because I have not been with an entire Brazilian family. However, I can recognize the more relaxed feel of the cordial man. When making purchases here, it is not uncommon for the business to forgo exact change in exchange for convenience. I have also been charged for more or less than I ordered, and been met with indifference toward rectifying the situation. Likewise, I can certainly witness the effects of the cordial men making decisions through passion, which ties back to the graffiti around the cities, and the Brazilian style of futebol.

Brazilian futebol truly surprised me. I have seen extreme fandom in the US with American football and baseball, but I had yet to see the extreme energy and devotion to the local futebol club. Likewise, Brazilian players certainly play with more passion and emotion than strategy. The attacks to the goal by the Coritiba team were swift and frequent, with the fan reacting to each failed attempt. Then, once a member of the opposing team broke away, he sprinted to the goal solo and shot without a second thought, where a more strategic player may have waited for a center-kick opportunity. When the Coritiba team began to lose, the feeling in the crowd was not disappointment, but anger. I was both disturbed and filled with primal excitement by the hostile environment of the stadium, and I could finally understand the mob mentality that leads to deaths over futebol matches.

Brazil is a nation of people that show the details of their past in the actions of their present, from the influences of Europe, the Americas, and their African slaves. All of the culture that comes from these birthplaces is mixed into one beautiful blend of music, art, and personality that the Brazilians continually put out into the world. That is the most exciting part of Brazil; there is a certain freedom for the common person to fully give themselves to the world. While some of Brazil’s people, such as the LGBT community and people of color, do not have the same freedom of expression and compassion, progressive bastions like Sao Paulo give me hope that someday all of Brazil will be able to share in the great Brazilian tradition of expression that I find so intriguing. My only regret is that I did not get to personally experience more of what Brazil has to offer, yet I am grateful that I got to meet a delightful cast of Brazilians, and I was able to become intimately familiar with the unique city of Sao Paulo.

Culture Homework #4

I must be honest, I was not expecting the futebol match in Curitiba to live up to the hype that we were presented with in class. Most of the time in our futebol focused class, I was comparing each aspect of the game, fans, and culture to sports in the US; namely baseball. I could name at least 20 guys from my hometown that have either Yankees or Mets tattoos, like the ones shown to us for each of Sao Paulo’s teams. I could relate the devotion to the team from your home area to the same devotion I see to New York and Boston teams. I could relate the arguments and possible violence to fights that I had always heard of back in the states. Finally, I could relate the racial struggles in the history of the game to the similar fight for desegregation of professional leagues in the US.

Although all of these relations exist, futebol brings these aspects to a whole new level. The energy in the stadium was electric, with the sound of drums and jumping fans constantly pounding your chest. The stadium was packed, and I found very few people not wearing the team’s green jerseys. Nearly everyone stood for the entirety of the play time, and the chants never stopped, even when big events occurred on the field. Likewise, gigantic flags constantly waved in the stands, with nobody in those sections complaining about the view of the game because they were seemingly just so happy to be there. Even the visitor’s section was filled to the brim with screaming fans clad in red and black. I could not believe my senses, and I was easily dragged into the excitement, chanting, cheering, and jeering from the concrete bleachers whenever the crowd signaled to do so.

Although I greatly enjoyed this intense energy, there were some negative aspects. While we were welcomed to the tame section of the bleachers by some older women, the attitude toward us outsiders was much different in the hardcore fan section. On one hand, this aversion to outsiders is representative of the tight-knit community that exists within the Coritiba club, it also lends itself to violent tendencies that ruin the spirit of sportsmanship. This intensity is both what makes a futebol match so great, and so terrifying. Another unfortunate aspect was the obvious absence of racial diversity. A majority of the crowd looked more European in origin. However, I am not sure if this is because of the more European population of Southern Brazil, or because of the German origins of this historic club.

Nevertheless, it was truly special to have the experience that Thomas spoke so highly of. I loved the atmosphere of the free standing room on the bleachers. The pure energy flowing through those stands was impressive, regardless of some of this energy being negative (especially when Coritiba started to lose). I now have a much better understanding of why Brazilians love futebol, and why it is such an integral part of their culture.

Homework #8

Upon arrival at the office of the secretary, there was a great contrast between the poverty stricken area surrounding the office and the luxurious setup of the conference room. I feel that this may be telling to a misappropriation of social funds by the state government of Sao Paulo, however the state is certainly appropriating a correct portion of funds toward renewable energy resources. I was thoroughly impressed by nearly 60% of their energy resources being renewable. This is remarkably ahead of the rest of the world.

It's no surprise because the state of Sao Paulo has capitalized on their abundant sugar cane and hydroelectric resources. Their initiatives with tax incentives, electric company competition, and microgeneration are simple methods that have made a world of difference. They are also not stopping their renewable resource expansion anytime soon. Most importantly, the state serves as a role model for local municipalities across the world. While other states may not have the same resource possibilities as Sao Paulo, they proved that only a few powerful resources can lead to sustainability.

Nonetheless, they are starting to heavily pursue solar energy resources to broaden their portfolio. While this is not the most powerful resource, I admired their ability to learn from their experience with the drought. With the addition of solar, Sao Paulo would be more able to sustain their energy during a drought, whereas biomass, biofuels, hydroelectric, and forestry are greatly susceptible to drought.

Speaking of forestry, I did not know about trees being used as biomass. While it should have been self explanatory, I just never saw the growth time for trees as making it a viable energy resources. I am also interested to know the efficiency of this process because of the long gestation that is required, as well as the carbon dioxide output of burning this timber.

In the end, I could talk about the intriguing aspects of this trip for pages, but I want to make sure that I express how honored I am to have experienced this. Being able to pick the brains of these respected guides of the state of Sao Paulo was a spectacular experience that I will not forget.

Culture Homework #3 - Favelas

I feel that the most frustrating concept manifested in favelas is that the extremely costly police forces for the favelas of Rio are mostly ineffective. When you use the resources and lives that go into making a force like BOPE, then you expect this force to create a positive change in their assigned favela. According to Erika Larkins in "Performances of Police Legitimacy in Rio’s Hyper Favela", and the film "City of God", the police that work in favelas are mostly corrupt, ultra-violent, and all for show. 

Larkins speaks of how in one of the raids she witnessed in the El Dorado favela, the local traffickers simply paid a toll in the form of a couple tons of marijuana for the police to flaunt in front of the media, which they certainly did. Likewise, in "City of God", Lil Ze started a gruesome war with Carrot, the opposing drug lord of the favela, and simply had to pay the cops some cash when he was caught. Additionally, the weapons dealer for both sides of this destructive war was receiving his weapons supply from the local police. Therefore, while I'm sure some favela police are not corrupt, it is well known that many are, and a corrupt cop serves no purpose. Nevertheless, the government of Brazil still continually feeds these police forces into the favelas so that they can show the general populace that they're "tough on crime." While I can agree that this public perception of a successful police force is pivotal to governmental respect, it does nothing to stop the horrific acts of the favela gangs.

That is another important topic; the ultra-violence of the favela police. Larkins, eerily offhandedly, mentioned how police snipers shot and killed a "young kid" lookout for the gangs in El Dorado during one of their raids. The unfortunate part of this is that the gangs were already gone, having learned of the raid prior to it occurring. Therefore, the police, instead of incapacitating or arresting the lookout, murdered the young boy who's job meant nothing that night. a similar situation occurred in City of God when the police wrongly identified their suspect, and proceeded to chase down and kill an innocent child who was walking to school in the favela. While the police are nowhere near as brutal as the gangs in the favelas, their serving of violence with violence implies desperation, further convincing the favela residents that the state has no power compared to the gangs that serve them. Likewise, violence begets violence, so causing more violence with this outside force only inspires more internal destruction. 

Homework #7

At the beginning of this Alternative Energy Technologies course, I thought that the only obstacles keeping humans from living on sustainable resources were money, the ill-informed, and conservatives. Looking back, it is abundantly apparent how naive I was. There are countless challenges in living on sustainable resources. We will forever be needing more energy to meet our skyrocketing demand. We must consider wildlife and ecosystems that may require alterations or destruction in order to accommodate our energy production. We must make the processes efficient enough that we produce more energy than we use in its creation. I was blind to all of these factors, and more, before starting this course. I was also unaware of the extreme advantages that traditional energy sources have in these fields, with the only major downfalls being their long-term environmental impact, and their centuries-long renewal time.

Furthermore, I had this silly image of coal, oil, and natural gas as being these dark, devious energy sources that only serve to destroy the Earth and fatten industrialist pockets, whereas sustainable resources were these pillars of virtue that cradle the Earth and all of its creatures, while simultaneously meeting all of our hefty needs. I can liken this pristine image to that of the Giving Tree from Shel Silverstein's book of the same name. In the book, the tree provides the boy with everything from its apples to its own wood, without asking for anything in return. I have learned throughout this course that, similar to sustainable resources, the tree would have required expensive soil, daily watering, and years of growth before yielding to the boy. Even then, the tree still would have had a possibility of providing a bad apple in a small harvest,  or overshadowing other wildlife and choking out its existence.

Nevertheless, humans need energy just like the boy needed to eat apples. We may not like to pay the prices for sustainable energy resources, but it is a step we must take if we want to continue existing. Not only are we damaging our planet through the use of traditional resources, as I knew before this course, but we're also going to run out of these resources some day, and it is currently impossible to sustain our current lifestyles without a heavy reliance on traditional resources.

Culture Homework #2 - Roots of Brazil

The concept of the cordial man is very foreign to me. Coming from the United States, where we sing the national anthem at every event, pledge the flag in the morning, and plaster our flag over everything we possibly can, it is strange for me to think that one could not feel a sense of identity with their nation. I also grew up in New York during the post-9/11 era, so I feel a strong bond to both my state and my country, not to mention my home city of Newburgh. All of these communal qualities give me a strong sense of duty to the people around me, and that does not stop when I come to Brazil. That is why it is so difficult to see the maids working around me at the hostel or the HUB and not feel like I have to help with the dishes, or get out of their way so as to not inconvenience them in the slightest way. In the United States, one is tied to the people around them, because we are all Americans, or New Yorkers, or what have you. Therefore, having an old woman whom I do not know cleaning up my messes feels backwards. I feel instead as if I should have her take my seat and I do the work.

Yet, this is not the case in Brazil.  The Brazilians are not tethered to "clear origins or to explanatory 'centers'" as Monteiro suggests. Therefore, the Brazilian should feel no duty to take the weight off of an elderly maid's shoulders, as they feel no connection with her. The same goes for a homeless person on Avenue Paulista. Monteiro would argue that a Brazilian should feel no need to help this person because of "some abstract 'collectivity'" that a member of another culture may feel to that same person. Therefore, why should an impoverished Brazilian feel any shame in robbing or swindling a more well off person, when they feel no relation to said person? The Brazilians that I have witnessed find it normal to turn a blind eye to the elderly or the struggling. However, this is not out of cruelty or a lack of empathy, but simply because they may not recognize that person as personally important to them.

The opposite side of the cordial man persona is duty to one's family. According to Monteiro, the Brazilian is only emotionally responsible for the "well-being of a small family nucleus." This would explain why the nanny Val, in The Second Mother, feels an intense connection to her daughter Jessica, even though she was not there to raise Jessica. This connection explains why Val went through years of being treated like a second-class citizen by the family she served to provide for the daughter that she did not truly know. Likewise, when Val learned of Jessica's secret child, she wanted to bring the child to live with her and Jessica, even though it was fine where it was living. This is most likely because of her intense instinct to be a grandmother, owing to her connection with her family. Interestingly, Val also felt an intense love for the son of her hiring family, Fabinho. While Fabinho was not her blood, he was still a part of the family nucleus that she was a part of for so many years. This made him like her own son, that she was able to raise in exchange for Jessica. I believe that this was an important fulfillment for Val, and that she needed a family to be responsible for because of her cordial nature, even if she was not related.

Overall, the cordial man identity is a foreign concept to me, as I have always been strongly bound to my community, and surrounding citizens in general. This severe shift in social values feels like the difference that I subconsciously knew existed just from my time here in Brazil. I was happy to receive an explanation of this difference from both the class material and Roots of Brazil, because now it is easier to understand the actions and motivations of Brazilians around me.

Homework #5 - Biomass Plant

Today’s visit to the biomass plant was interesting, and not only because of the smell. I was impressed by how thorough and resourceful the plant’s production was, with the plant using every part of the sugar cane to the fullest extent. From the stalk to the syrup to the hard sugar, every aspect was taken advantage of.

While it may seem like the stalks of the sugar cane may seem like trash to many, this plant put their waste to use. After extracting the syrup, the stalks were dried and fed into a boiler, where they were burned to collect energy from a typical steam-turbine system. While this may seem insignificant, it is anything but. This process produced about 40 MW, which is enough to keep the plant self-sufficient, and have a remaining 20 MW to sell to the grid. I was pleased to learn of this process because it alleviates one of the main issues of biomass production; biomass plants use nearly as much energy as they produce. At least by cutting down on the energy usage of the actual plant, the carbon weight of harvesting and transportation are not as detrimental. Likewise, the close proximity of the plant to the sugar cane fields lowers the impact of shipping the sugar cane.

Dried sugar cane stalk

Furthermore, the ethanol production process made sure that nothing was wasted. Through the five extraction processes, the plant is able to gather 70% of the syrup out of the sugar cane. This syrup was then brewed into the wine-like substance, and converted into ethanol which was distilled to 94% purity. While this pure ethanol does not smell very good, I was surprised by how clear it was. I always pictured a gold-ish liquid similar to gasoline, but even the color of ethanol gives it a purer feel than gasoline. We saw this sample in the on-site lab, which performed regular tests to ensure the quality of their product, ensuring the safety of their consumers. This is important when the plant outputs 300,000 Liters per day.

Test Distiller

Rationally, the plant also produces sugar from these sugar canes, which tasted great. The amount of sugar constantly being stored in that warehouse was staggering, with a ton sized bag of sugar coming in every minute or so.

Raw sugar cane

Our final stop was the sugar cane fields, where Josh, our fearless leader, rode in the harvester. This harvester was a behemoth, with blades on the upper arm to chop the excess leaves of the crop, and bottom blades that chopped the stalks before they were fed into the harvester. The harvester then sorted out a majority of the excess, leaving only the sugar cane stalks to be transported to the plant in a separate truck. This early sorting is just another example of the attention to detail in this process. However, it was disheartening to see the age and size of the equipment used at the farm, as these machines are certainly not clean burning, or high on mpg.

Harvester

Nevertheless, this is an expected cost, and it would be interesting to see if the extra efficiency of the sugar cane ethanol process makes up for this energy spending. Overall, I must say that I truly admire the self-sufficiency and total usage of the sugar cane at this plant. It was really SWEET to see such an efficient and well engineered facility.