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The Brazilian Way
The Brazilian Way
Despite regional and social class variations, the Brazilian way
of life has common traits that distinguish it from the customary
ways of dealing with people and situations in North America and
Europe and even in other Latin American countries. Its uniqueness
seems to result from the peculiar blend of Portuguese, African,
and Amerindian cultural influences in a setting in which central
authority attempted, without great success, to exploit the people
and resources and to enforce religious norms. Under these circumstances,
it was preferable to appear to obey than actually to obey.
Many attempts have been made to explain what makes Brazilians different
from their neighbors in the Americas, both North and South. In the
late nineteenth century, Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, one of
Brazil's greatest writers, explored the subtleties of the Brazilian
character, focusing on the attempts of the urban middle class to
emulate European lifestyles and aspirations. In the 1920s, the writer
Mário de Andrade, a leader of the modernist movement that
broke with tradition and attempted to find an authentic Brazilian
identity, created the archetypal Brazilian character, Macunaíma,
a lazy but ingenious black-turned-white Amazonian who migrated to
São Paulo and was a "man with no character." In
the following decade, in books such as The Masters and the Slaves
(Casa Grande e Senzala) and The Mansions and the Shanties (Sobrados
e Mocambos), Gilberto Freyre emphasized the flexibility of the Portuguese,
as well as the African roots of the Northeasterners. Other authors
characterized the Brazilian as homem cordial (cordial man). In his
novels and stories, João Guimarães Rosa, Brazil's
greatest writer of the twentieth century, found universal themes
in the contradictory characters and peculiar language of men and
women deep in the sertão backlands. Novelist Jorge Amado
focused on social conflict, local color, and sensuality in his native
Bahia State. More recently, the Brazilian anthropologist Roberto
da Matta explored tensions between the private and public spheres,
spontaneity, and authority, as well as sentiment and order to which
Brazilians have found their own characteristic solutions.
At the level of interpersonal relations, in contrast to what is
usually found in Spanish-speaking Latin America, where behavior
tends to be more formal and rigid, there are in Brazil strong cultural
values in favor of conciliation, tolerance, and cordiality. To the
extent possible, direct personal confrontation is avoided. This
Brazilian style of behavior may be derived from an Iberian and colonial
heritage of diverse ethnic groups living together, weaker central
authority exercised by the Portuguese crown, and day-to-day practical
forms of resistance to exploitation. It may also have an element
of popular emulation of the genteel behavior of the elites. Whatever
its origins, Brazilians are known for their informality, good nature,
and charm (simpatia ), as well as their desire not to be thought
unpleasant or boorish (chato ). They place high value on warmth,
spontaneity, and lack of pomp and ceremony.
Though they are cordial and magnanimous at the interpersonal level,
Brazilians as a whole are exploitative with regard to the environment.
This attitude has been explained in terms of the bandeirante or
conquistador mentality by authors such as Viana Moog and Jorge Wilheim.
According to this interpretation, the general spirit of the colonizer
of yesteryear or today is to accumulate as much wealth as possible
as quickly as possible and then move on. Whatever its roots, the
result of this kind of behavior is individualism, transience, and
disregard for others and for nature as opposed to stability, solidarity,
equilibrium, and equity. It has led to both human and environmental
degradation.
In a similar fashion, Brazilians tend not to think in terms of
the common good. Discourse invoking mutual benefit for all concerned
is often mistrusted as a disguised justification for colonialism
or exploitation. The result of widespread evasion of rules imposed
by the central authority is a vicious circle involving crackdowns
and inspections (fiscalização ) to enforce ever-tougher
rules and ever more sophisticated and ingenious ways of evading
the rules (burla ). This tendency often blocks the efforts of those
who are well-intentioned, without creating major obstacles but rather
making their work easier for the truly dishonest.
This nonconformity with illegitimate authority is probably an origin
of one of Brazil's most characteristic and original concepts, summarized
in the word jeito . The word is practically untranslatable but refers
to ways of "cutting red tape," "bending the rules,"
"looking the other way," or an alternative "way out."
In its worst form, it amounts to corruption. At its best, it means
finding pragmatic solutions to difficult problems without making
waves.
Many Brazilians regard soccer and Carnaval,
for which Brazil is famous, as outlets for the frustrations of everyday
life. Brazil's three world soccer championships led to great national
pride until 1970; subsequent losses caused twenty-four years of
frustration until the fourth World Cup was brought home in 1994.
The yearly Carnaval festivities provide for short-lived release
and relaxation.
Another form of release is through imported and native music, widely
disseminated by modern communications. The bossa nova of the 1960s
was replaced by the lively Brazilian rhythms and dance movement
of forró , lambada ,samba
and pagode .
Data as of April 1997
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