Brynn Barineau

Category: Brazil’s History & Politics

  • Talking Small in Brazil

    Talking Small in Brazil

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    Small talk across cultures…

    Today my daughter and I went through our regular morning routine.  We had breakfast while watching cartoons, got dressed, and somewhere between the front door of our apartment and the front door of our building she decided she’s never going to school again.  As usual, I hobbled out the door to our building with a child hanging on one leg, two backpacks, a bag of objects starting with the letter of the week, and, for extra fun today, an umbrella.  While negotiating the concrete stairs, the window of the front desk slid open on cue and our building’s porteiro (door person/front desk receptionist) stuck her head out.

    This woman’s commitment to good manners is unwavering.  It doesn’t matter how loudly my daughter is crying or precarious my balance on the steps.  She will call out a greeting to us, comment on my daughter’s cuteness, and wait for a response.  As I call out a frazzled good morning in Portuguese between promises and pleas to my daughter in English, the porteiro in cheerful Portuguese tells my daughter not cry because school is fun! Truly, nothing is more helpful when negotiating a tantrum than to have a relative stranger shouting encouragement in another language.

    Such is the Brazilian commitment to small talk.

    Screaming toddlers in the rain won’t deter a morning chat.  I come back from the gym sweaty and stinky, and I still can’t avoid a discussion on the humidity with our porteiro, a maid, and two retirees.  Yes, it sure is hot.  Just look at my face in a puddle on the floor there.  I’d really love a shower.  After the heat and humidity, inflation is the next hottest topic to discuss with taxi drivers, elevator companions, and stylists.  Here in Vitoria, you can go ahead and blame all three on President Dilma.

    My first experience with the Brazilian determination to converse happened at the pool of my old building in Rio.  I had head phones wedged in my ears, a highlighter in hand, an open journal article on my lap, a stack of ten more to my left and a total of five words in Portuguese.  I non-verbally screamed, “Don’t talk to me,” but not loudly enough to deter the lifeguard.  There was no way to get rid of the guy short of saying “Stop talking,” but as I couldn’t use the imperative in Portuguese, I was stuck.

    I hate small talk and unfortunately for me, Brazilians are generally an extraordinarily friendly and happy people.  How exhausting.  Fortunately for me, the man I married is the most anti-social Brazilian currently living.  He is an outlier that skews all  data about Brazilians, and serves as a reminder that while culture is real, each person is an individual.

    At least a lifetime of training among small talkers won’t go to waste here.  You see I’m from the South, the region of the US formerly known as the Confederacy.  We do our small talkin’ with more ice tea and fewer “g”s, but we do it and love it.

    At least, we can fake that we love it.  I don’t believe anyone feels genuine excitement over someone’s new, home-made seasonal door swag.  But when the saleswoman at Michaels raves about the gold spray paint she just used on hers, a good southern girl will exclaim on the good fortune, express gratitude for the knowledge by referencing her own failed attempt at a similar project, and ask for suggestions on holiday napkin holder crafts for kids she may or may not actually have.

    Successful small talk requires a lot of energy and even more if you have to do it in a second language and foreign culture.  You need not only correctly conjugated verbs but also content.   Small talk requires knowledge about topics appropriate for discussion i.e. the weather, current events, pop culture, and fluency in non-verbal cues to know when it’s time to change topics or wrap things up.  Pulling all this off in a new country is exhausting and I’m just not inclined to invest this energy in someone I will only be in line with for another five minutes.

    I know this makes me the shy or rude foreigner and that by Brazilian standers my building’s porteiro is hardly a stranger.  Neither is my mother-in-law.  I just think one of the best things about being a happily-married, self-employed adult is that I don’t have to win the approval of strangers, bosses, or periphery acquaintances.  Not unless I’m in the mood.

    I know when the apocalypse comes no one here will be inviting my husband and I onto their boat.  But I have a super cute Brazilian daughter.  I’ll leave it to her to small talk our way on board.

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  • Learning Brazilian History at the Dentist

    Learning Brazilian History at the Dentist

    Something I enjoy about living in a different culture are the little reminders, even after years, that you’re not from here. Usually it’s a small thing that catches you by surprises and causes a double take. These cultural surprises are often trivial matters that you didn’t even anticipate being different, such as how socks get folded or the absence functional seat belts in the back seats of taxis.

    I wonder how long a person must live in a place before the little “Wait, what?” moments taper off. I’ve been in Brazil for four and a half years but just last week I was thrown by a simple question on a medical history form.

    At the dentist recently, I filled out a new patient form. I’ve become accustomed to routinely answering what I feel are very personal question such as marriage status and profession for everyone including the woman who sold me my bookshelf, but this question stopped me.

    “Cor:_____________”

    Cor in Portuguese means color. A medical history form handed to me by the dentist’s office asked for my color. I blinked in disbelief. I double checked with my husband. “Does this say color?” He told me it did. I asked “Ok, color of what exactly?” even though I knew the answer. He looked at the receptionist who said simply “skin.”

    For an American, an American from Atlanta, Georgia who heard about slavery, the civil rights movements, and racial tensions every year in school and was in high school during the ridiculously overdue process of getting the confederate flag off of the state flag, a doctor’s office asking for skin color is shocking.

    Four years in Brazil and I can still be shocked by a single word on a form. A simple piece of information that would never be asked for in my own culture. Or would it?

    How often is a person in the states asked to designate her race? Isn’t the same question just phrased in what, for Americans, is a more comfortable way? Sure, we’re usually told that question is “optional” and for “statistical purposes only” but the question is still asked.

    In talking to my husband afterwards, I learned that there are actually some Afro-Brazilian groups that are lobbying to get “color” included on forms. When Brazil first became a republic any mention of race was outlawed under the argument it would prevent discrimination. The result, however, was that millions of Brazilians who had been enslaved based solely on their race had no way to receive any programs targeted specifically  to help them overcome circumstances created by race, thus locking them into the lowest levels of society. Now, certain Afro-Brazilian groups want “color” on forms to have data about color and race in Brazil.

    So much history from a form at the dentist. That’s why, even though each cultural surprise is a clear reminder I’m living in someone else’s culture, I welcome them. Each one is a learning opportunity. Not that I always appreciate them. Learning takes energy and often I only have enough energy to be annoyed and call whatever is different stupid. (Both creativity and tolerance suffer when I’m tired.) But on good days having to pay for bottled water leads to a discussion of sewage infrastructure and a dentist’s form opens a dialogue on racial history.

  • Navy v. Army: A Brazilian Rivalry

    Navy v. Army: A Brazilian Rivalry

    This week the naval school here in Vitoria celebrated it’s 50th birthday. They marked the occasion with a series of events culminating in the unveiling of two commemorative stamps by the post office.

    In case you were caught off guard by the birthday or the fact people still make commemorative stamps, don’t worry. There was a big enough turnout among the naval community in Vitoria to keep the Commandante happy. As a former naval officer my husband is part of this community and I joined him at the Marine corps concert. Despite the unfortunate artistic decision to include “Can You feel the Love Tonight,” which was neither appropriate following Carmen nor improved by the addition of bagpipes, the band was excellent.

    I’ve been to a few Naval events during my time in Brazil and it took me a while to realize my husband was in the military during a military dictatorship.

    When asked “So, being part of an all powerful military, what was that like?” he explained that A) by the time he was an officer the military was ceding power and the country only a few years away from becoming a Democracy, B) supply officers don’t go on power trips and C) the navy was not really in power during the dictatorship.

    Here’s a little Brazilian history. The army has rivalry with the navy that goes beyond an annual sporting event and the dictators of the 20th century came exclusively from the army.

    Brazil has the 16th longest coastline in the world, 4,650 miles, and has one of the most extensive river systems in the world. Given this geography, the navy, already an important part of Portuguese culture before their arrival in Brazil, continued to be crucial to the develop and defense of the country. Both the Portuguese royalty during the colonial period and the Brazilian aristocracy during the empire were closely tied to the navy.

    When the republic was declared in 1889, it was the army funded by rich but not royal coffee farmers that overthrew the emperor. A people’s army was not eager to share power with an aristocratic navy.

    It was your typical armed forces rivalry. “The aristocracy always loved you best.” “Because you’re an undisciplined mess who never touches up the paint on your bases,” etc.

    The tension came to a head just a few years into the republic, in 1893, after some bungled governance and a president who ignored the constitution. Several high ranking officers and admirals sent a letter to the president (such nice manners those naval officers) calling for the constitutionally mandated elections. The president’s response was to issue arrest warrants for every officer who signed the letter.

    Rather than go to jail, naval officers in Rio de Janeiro attempted a coup and for several days Rio was under siege as the navy exchanged fire with the army. The navy failed to garner popular support, possibly because many of its officers were believed to be sympathetic to the monarchy, and those involved were forced to flee south where they were captured in 1894.

    Thus a rivalry was born. Fortunately today, both branches work in support of the democratically elected government. There’s still a competitive edge between them but it only manifests during school fencing and judo tournaments. Or who’s been issued the most commemorative stamps.

  • Human Development Index Brazil & US

    Human Development Index Brazil & US

    This past week the 2010 Human Development Index (HDI) came out and marked its 20th anniversary. The idea behind the HDI report is that a country’s development cannot be measured in GDP alone. The quality of life for the people living in the county is what matters.

    Data on every type of development factor from internet accessibility to maternal mortality rates to average years of school has been collected from 169 countries. This year they’ve added a special section looking at global trends of the past two decades. And it’s all free. All the data, their methodology, the analysis, it’s all available to anyone with internet access. The internet is amazing! (So is UNDP for not charging us to see their very pretty graphs.)

    Just for fun (yes, I think comparing development stats between countries is fun) let’s compare Norway, Brazil, the US and Tajikistan. Why Tajikistan? Because Tajikistan is fun to say.

    Overall HDI ranking (out of 169 countries)
    Norway 1
    Brazil 73
    United States 4
    Tajikistan 112

    Life Expectancy at Birth
    Norway 81
    Brazil 72.9
    US 79.5
    Tajikistan 67.3

    Mean Years of Schooling (among adults)
    Norway 12.6
    Brazil 7.1
    US 12.4
    Tajikistan 9.7

    GDP per capita (2008 PPP US$)
    Norway $58,277
    Brazil $10,846
    US $46,652
    Tajikistan $2,064

    Inequality Gini Coefficient (0 is perfectly equal distribution)
    Norway 25.8
    Brazil 55
    US 40.8
    Tajikistan N/A

    Adolescent Fertility Rate (Births per 1,000 women 15-19)
    Norway 8.6
    Brazil 75.6
    US 35.9
    Tajikistan 28.4

    Homicide Rate (per 100,000)
    Norway 0.6
    Brazil 22
    US 5.2
    Tajikistan 2.3

    So, what can we conclude from all these numbers? Norway deserves some hearty congratulations for doing apparently everything right. I think the only reason we all aren’t heading to Norway and putting plaster gnomes in our windows is because most people want to see the sun more than six months out of the year.

    We can all be grateful we don’t live in Tajikistan no matter how fabulous the name is. Brazil has come a long way but still has serious problems particularly in terms of education and violence. Better public education would also go a long way in combatting other issues such as teen pregnancy.

    And what about the US? There are serious problems facing the US, but the fear and despair manifesting itself in the media, political rhetoric, and comment streams isn’t warranted. Life in the US is good. Not perfect, but in comparison to the vast majority countries the quality of life you can have in the States is luxurious.

    If people would just stop screaming at each other as if we’re on a burning ship that’s sinking into shark infested waters, we could see that we have all the resources we need to fix our problems. Governing is not a game with winners and losers. It’s problem solving. Nobody wins until the problem is solved. We may not be Norway, but number 4 is pretty darn good.

  • Brazil’s Hiroshima

    Brazil’s Hiroshima

    In his book, , British journalist Alex Bellos quotes the Brazilian playwright Nelson Rodrigues, “Everywhere has its irremediable national catastrophe, something like a Hiroshima.  Our catastrophe, our Hiroshima, was the defeat by Uruguay in 1950.”

    Rodrigues isn’t talking about a war. Uruguay beat Brazil in the final match of the 1950 World Cup.

    Yes, a Brazilian compared losing a soccer game to having an atomic bomb land on your head.  I might find this comparison less disturbing if Brazil had lost to Uruguay in a border skirmish or some type of military engagement. Comparing the decimation of a city to the loss of a sporting event lacks just a little perspective.

    Or does it?

    Bellos devotes an entire chapter to recounting this single match.  He interviews everyone involved, from the Uruguayan who scored the winning goal to contemporary football anthropologists who study the match.  The resulting picture is that of a nation which was ready to announce its global presence and the dawning of a new era in Brazil.  Winning their first World Cup, at home in Brazil, would be the grand opening of modern Brazil.

    As a showcase of the big future in store for the country, Brazilians built the largest stadium in the world.  In 2 years.  One reporter said the stadium gave the nation “a new soul.”

    The Maracanã, in Rio de Janeiro, is the most iconic stadium in the world. On July 16, 1950, it set a record for the largest sports crowd ever.  173,850 fans entered with paid tickets.  Combined with the dignitaries, journalists and special guests in attendance the crowd was estimated to be over 200,000 people.  Approximately, 199,999 of those people were cheering for Brazil.  One Uruguayan player brought his mother.

    By 1950 soccer, or futebol, had become a core piece of Brazilian identity.  A love of soccer was one of the few truly unifying traits of a diverse and expectant country.   Brazil had crushed, decimated, humiliated Spain (6-1) and Sweden (7-1) in the preceding final matches.  Rio’s O Mundo had already printed its front page: “These are the World Champions” alongside a picture of the Brazilian team. It was destiny for Brazil to win its first Cup on home turf in the greatest stadium in the world.

    Then they lost.  The final score was 2-1.

    Destiny, it seemed, had it in for Brazil.  At least, that’s what one Brazilian writer, José Lins do Rego, thought.  After watching people leave the stadium in tears, Rego wrote, “it stuck in my head that we really were a luckless people, a nation deprived of the great joys of victory, always pursued by bad luck, by the meanness of destiny.” The loss plunged the entire population into a crisis of self doubt.

    That game was wrapped up in nationhood and identity.  The loss was taken as a reflection on the nation.  Brazil lost because Brazilians are losers.  They are a “luckless people.”  I still sense a hint of this fatalist attitude in many aspects of Brazilian culture today. So maybe it’s a fair comparison, hiroshima and the 1950 World Cup.  Both impacted an entire nation.  The consequences can still be felt…

    You know what?  Bullshit. Who am I kidding?  You can’t compare a soccer game to the devastation of an atom bomb. You just can’t.  There is no comparison.  What can be said is that no single sporting event has impacted a country the way the 1950 final shaped Brazil and that you can’t know Brazil without knowing soccer.

    All of the information for this post came from Alex Bellos’ book Futebol The Brazilian Way of Life.  It is a great read.  Fun, informative, surprising.  Bellos uses soccer as a means of analyses for the country as a whole.  Anyone interested in Brazil or soccer should buy it immediately.

  • Faking It: A Brazilian Success Story

    Faking It: A Brazilian Success Story

    Brazil is certainly getting its play in the international press lately.  Electing a possibly illiterate clown to congress by a landslide will do that for a country. (No, that is not a metaphor. An actual, professional clown will be representing Sao Paulo.)  Because I live here, I would prefer to focus on Brazil’s success stories and my stepmom sent me a link that does just that.

    On NPR’s All Things Considered last week, there was a segment about Brazil’s remarkable end to decades of runaway inflation.  It’s due in no small part to a group of drinking buddies from PUC (Catholic University in Rio) and a trick that worked on pretty much the entire population of Brazil.

    My Brazilian husband refers to the problem as “Brazil’s culture of inflation.”  He being somewhat (no specifics) older than myself remembers prices on virtually everything changing daily during the worst periods of inflation.  Those who could bought dollars or had savings accounts that adjusted daily.  But for lower income families (i.e. most of Brazil at the time) paychecks had to be deposited immediately or risk being worth less by the next day.

    This went on for decades until it became built into Brazilian culture.  People had no faith in the government or the currency.  They behaved as if the currency had no value and expected all government plans to fail.  So part of the solution was to trick the population into believing the currency was stable.  How do you do that?  You create a imaginary currency.  This became known as the real plan.

    Obviously, this is a gross simplification and at 7 minutes the broadcast is not delving into all the complexities either.  I do think, however, that’s it’s an informative and enjoyable introduction to a subject most Americans have never heard of.  You can listen to the story here.

    And on a human interest note, I can say that one of those four drinking buddies who ended inflation, is now a nice, doting father.  I taught his daughter in an SAT prep class.

  • Suggestions for Lula’s Second Career

    Suggestions for Lula’s Second Career

    The results are in and we’re headed toward a runoff.  In Brazil, you cannot be elected with a mere plurality.  Because no presidential candidate managed to secure more than 50% of the vote, there will be a runoff between the top two vote winners, Dilma and Serra.

    Analysts in Brazil and abroad are certain Dilma will win easily, but it’s not over until all the vote are counted.  The one thing we know for certain is that President Lula will be out of a job in a few months.  Rumor has it he’ll be back to run again in four years but in the meantime he’s going to need a second career.  I have some suggestions.

    Sea captain.  With his beard and deep, gravelly voice the man was born to shout orders like “Swab the decks!”  Or whatever the Portuguese equivalent of “swab” is.  Brazil has plenty of monkeys and parrots, so he can have his pick of faithful, shoulder-sitting animal companion.  He lost a couple of fingers working in the factory. He could start telling people it happened while loading cannons during a sea battle.

    Restaurateur.  Specifically, the owner of a cachaçaria in Salvador.  Lula has a legendary love of cachaça. Why not take that passion to the bank?  He is charming and personable, crucial skills for a great bartender. Plus, the northeast is Lula’s strongest base so he’d be able to get in a little politicking while passing out shots.

    Tattoo Parlor Owner.  Not because the man has any tattoos. (That we know of…) I just want him to buy a shop and name it Lula Ink.

    Santa Claus.  Has any country ever been ruled by a man who more closely resembles St. Nick?  Lula is short, with a round belly and full, grey beard.  Has he seriously never been dressed in red velvet for a Christmas photo op? If I found myself standing in front of him, I would have to fight the urge to ask for a new iPad and pony.  Lula is already called the Father of Brazil, which makes for a pretty smooth transition to Father Christmas.

    Who knows?  Maybe he’d love life at the north pole so much he’d decide to stay there rather than come back in four years to establish his dynasty.  What a wonderful present that would be.

    So, what do you guys think Lula should spend the next four years doing?

  • Election Day in Brazil

    Election Day in Brazil

    Tomorrow is election day in Brazil.  Thank God!  If I hear one more election jingle being blasted from the propaganda cars driving through the city, well, I don’t know what I’d do, probably nothing, because I’m not a citizen and can’t vote.

    Anyway, elections! All the expats are blogging about it.  Even the NYT made it their lead article online this afternoon, so I’ll jump on the bandwagon.

    The big job is up for grabs this year.  The major presidential candidates are in the picture above.  Starting on the left, we have Marina Silva. (No relation to the current president.  Silva is the Portuguese equivalent of Jones.)  Marina is a native of the Amazon and passionate environmentalist.  She’s running on the Green Party ticket after resigning from her job as Environmental Minister under current President Lula.  She’s got her cred with the workers, something very important in Brazil, due to the years she spent working as a maid while she got through school. She fights for the preservation of the rainforest and rights of the native forest dwellers.  Very cool!  She is staunchly anti-abortion.  Very uncool!

    To the right of Marina is Jose Serra who’s running with the Social Democrats (PSDB).  As a student union leader, Serra was forced into exile for 14 years after the military government came to power.  During that time he got a PhD in economics from Cornell.  He’s been a Senator from Sao Paulo and Health Minister under President Cardoso.  He lost the 2002 Presidential Election to Lula.  Now, he’s probably going to loose to Lula’s lackey.  Let’s wait and see if he then grows a beard and gains 40 lbs.

    Lula’s lackey, is better known as Dilma Rousseff.  And she’s not really a lackey. She’s a handpicked protege who lacks the charm and energy of her predecessor.  Not that she doesn’t have any experience.  In fact, she was part of an armed rebel group fighting against the military dictatorship during her student days.  She was eventually jailed and tortured. Under Lula she has served as Minister of Energy and Chief of Staff.  Lula, whose approval is around 80%, has been at her side constantly for the last year.  Electing her is essentially an endorsement of Lula’s government and Worker Party (PT) control of the government.

    There’s also some old guy on the end. He’s not going to win so I don’t really care to find out who he is.

    What I find ironic and depressing is that both Dilma and Serra are people who have personally experienced the brutality of a government that does whatever it wants ignoring the rule of law, yet they are running campaigns that continually violate electoral law.  Serra has been fined seven times for a total of R$35,000.  He’s paid R$5,000.  Dilma has been fined 10 times by the electoral court.  She’s paid  R$16,000 of the total R$48,000 she owes.  And in a truly shameful display of leadership, President Lula has been fined a total of R$47,500 for his illegal campaigning for Dilma and has failed to pay a single cent.

    Marina has not been fined once.  As of Friday one poll had her at 15%.  See kids, follow the rules and you too can come in third place!

    It’s disgraceful for the party in control to create a political culture where the rule of law can be ignored. PT leaders buy off lower income families with a monthly stipend (which they do need and certainly makes a difference in their lives) and then spend the rest of their time serving their own interests.  They threaten critical media outlets, buy votes in Congress, and expand government’s role in industries to create jobs for their party bosses.

    Not that I think any other party would behave differently. Without a doubt PSDB wins the award for slimiest attack ad.  The ad claims a Dilma presidency will unleash a zombie army on Brazil that would release the hounds of hell and paint Brasilia red with blood.  My Portuguese isn’t great, so I may have some of the details wrong.  Watch for yourself and let me know what you think PSDB is trying to say.

  • Happy Birthday, Vitoria!

    Happy Birthday, Vitoria!

    Today, the city of Vitoria turns 459 years old.  A long time ago, September 8, 1551 to be exact, the Portuguese fought and won a decisive battle against the Goitacazes tribe.  They were so tickled with themselves for winning, the Portuguese called the island where the battle occurred Ilha de Vitoria, or Island of Victory.  Thus, the city of Vitoria was born and has been continuously inhabited for the past 459 years.

    A founding date of 1551 seems quite old to me, at least for a European city in the Western hemisphere.  The city government claims on their website that Vitoria is the second oldest capital city in Brazil.  I did some research (i.e. went to wikipedia) and found a list of the oldest cities in the US for comparison.

    The oldest, continuously inhabited city in the US is St. Augustine, which was founded in 1565.  Pensacola, FL was originally founded in 1559 but destroyed shortly after it’s founding.  It wasn’t refounded until 1698, so it loses the title on a technicality.  Either way, Vitoria is older than the oldest city in the US.

    Actually, Europeans began living on the islands that now make-up Vitoria beginning decades before the city was officially founded.  The first Portuguese governor of the region of Espirito Santo, Vasco Fernandes Coutinho, arrived in 1535.  The bay was protected by a series of small islands making it an ideal port.  The Portuguese could easily defend against the French and the Dutch.  There were also some problems with the locals.  With thousands of people already living up and down the Brazilian coast, the Portuguese had a little trouble convincing them to relocate.

    The local Indian tribes called Vitoria Guanaaní, Island of Honey.  The calm bay, bejewled with emerald green islands, was a beautiful site.  The waters were filled with mollusks and fish and the forests were filled with parrots and monkeys.  It was an Island of Honey, an island of plenty.

    Unfortunately, a city cannot be a major port for 400 continuous years and remain an untainted oasis.  While not at the levels of Rio, Vitoria has serious problems with water and air pollution.  Fortunately, it only takes an hour or two to reach the small beach towns that line the coast of Espirito Santo.  There you can see glimmers of the paradise Vitoria must have been.

    So happy birthday Vitoria!  I’ve only been here a week but I’m already a big fan.  To be honest, you had me at your incredible fish stew, but throwing in centuries of history and a candy factory was a nice touch.