Dancing for Land: Law‐Making and Cultural Performance in Northeastern Brazil

French, Jan Hoffman

doi:10.1525/pol.2002.25.1.19

Cited by 17 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…In the process of "re-Indianization," Xocó Indians dance the toré, prepare jurema, and are taught the history of the indigenous peoples who used to predominate in their region. However, they do not "look like" Indians, do not "dress like" Indians, and are of the same African descent as their relatives and neighbors in the village downriver that was recognized and granted land as a community of descendants of fugitive slaves in 2000 (French 2002). The Xocó today are fully a part of the cultural landscape of the backlands political patronage networks, with the additional twist that they are wards of the Brazilian government as a recognized Indian tribe.…”

Section: Brazil and The Mestizaje Debate: Untangling Mixture In The Nmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This allowed for the fluidity that started with, and has been buoyed by, notions of "mestizaje." Because I view law as an expandable and prismatic phenomenon, I consider the statutory definition of "Indian" as presenting an opportunity that was used, acted on, and whose meaning has remained elastic (French 2002). It is worth noting in this context that the 1973 Indian Statute, as it was written, assumed that Indians had cultural distinctiveness but did not explicitly mention any "racial" characteristics as conditions of Indian categorization.…”

Section: "From Written Law To Lived Law"mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mestizaje and Law Making in Indigenous Identity Formation in Northeastern Brazil: “After the Conflict Came the History”

French

2004

American Anthropologist

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In this article, I explore issues of authenticity, legal discourse, and local requirements of belonging by considering the recent surge of indigenous recognitions in northeastern Brazil. I investigate how race and ethnicity are implicated in the recognition process in Brazil on the basis of an analysis of a successful struggle for indigenous identity and access to land by a group of mixed‐race, visibly, African‐descended rural workers. I propose that the debate over mestizaje (ethnoracial and cultural mixing) in the Spanish‐speaking countries of Latin America can be reconfigured and clarified by broadening it to include such Brazilian experiences. I argue that the interaction between two processes—law making and indigenous identity formation—is crucial to understanding how the notion of “mixed heritage” is both reinforced and disentangled. As such, this article is an illustration of the role of legal discourse in the constitution of indigenous identities and it introduces northeastern Brazil into the global discussion of law, indigenous rights, and claims to citizenship.

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Section: Brazil and The Mestizaje Debate: Untangling Mixture In The Nmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: "From Written Law To Lived Law"mentioning

confidence: 99%

Mestizaje and Law Making in Indigenous Identity Formation in Northeastern Brazil: “After the Conflict Came the History”

French

2004

American Anthropologist

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“…5. In Brazil and other parts of Latin America, ethnic designations are more frequently associated with populations (e.g., Indigenous groups, descendants of marooned slaves) who have been accorded specific legal "protections" under multicultural policies as a result of histories of racism and exclusion (French 2002;Ng'weno 2007).…”

Section: Genetic Identities "On the Ground"mentioning

confidence: 99%

From Country Marks to DNA Markers

Abel¹,

Schroeder²

2020

Current Anthropology

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In molecular anthropology, DNA is regarded as a kind of biological "archive" that can provide unprecedented insights into human histories. More recently, genetic analysis has been used to explore the origins of African-descendant populations in the Americas. This idea has also been adopted by a burgeoning DNA ancestry testing industry that portrays these technologies as a means of restoring ethnic links effaced by slavery. Despite the popularity of these tests, critics have raised persistent scientific and ethical concerns about how far genomic data can, or should, be used to reconstruct social identities. In this paper, we take stock of these developments, assessing the combined influence of scientists, businesses, and members of the public in defining the scope of genetics for restoring ethnic links between African and African American populations. Drawing on perspectives from social and molecular anthropology, we examine the challenges of translating genetic findings into historically significant terms without reifying the correspondence between genetic and social identities, and we explore how personalized DNA ancestry results are being negotiated and mobilized by test takers "on the ground." Finally, we consider the responsibilities of anthropologists in addressing ongoing biocolonial tendencies and power disparities in the production of genetic ancestry.

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“…The timing of this “first” land occupation by the women, which occurred during the transition in municipal government from the Workers’ Party to a more center‐right coalition, reveals what Jan French () calls the prismatic nature of lawmaking and land rights in Brazil, in which the enactment of a law is just the starting point for multiple negotiations over its meanings and enforcement. Therefore, the rights of squatters to protest and access land under the umbrella of the Participatory Budget could not have been taken for granted, since new negotiations over its meaning would necessarily emerge under the new municipal administration.…”

Section: Women's Engagement In the Participatory Budget As Delegatesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Embodied Identity and Political Participation: Squatters’ Engagement in the Participatory Budget in Brazil

Walker¹

2013

Ethos

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In this article I examine subjective identity transformations among those who take part in programs of participatory governance, particularly the innovative mechanism of municipal resource allocation called the Participatory Budget. Focusing on the engagements of Porto Alegre city squatters, I aim to capture ambivalences that distinguish local and international discourses of participation and private property. Building on the dialectical relationship between narrative/figured worlds and positional identities, I view the Participatory Budget as a framework of meanings in flux within which some squatters who rearrange their positional identities along lines of social and power relations are then empowered to change their political practices. A novel emphasis on the distinction between squatters’ positional and embodied identities allows me to assess the political and psychological impacts of this form of participatory governance for people living in squatter settlements. I demonstrate the importance of embodied political practices and locally situated notions of male and female bodies in the squatters’ appropriation and refashioning of the identities imposed by local and international organizations.

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Dancing for Land: Law‐Making and Cultural Performance in Northeastern Brazil

Cited by 17 publications

References 17 publications

Mestizaje and Law Making in Indigenous Identity Formation in Northeastern Brazil: “After the Conflict Came the History”

Mestizaje and Law Making in Indigenous Identity Formation in Northeastern Brazil: “After the Conflict Came the History”

From Country Marks to DNA Markers

Embodied Identity and Political Participation: Squatters’ Engagement in the Participatory Budget in Brazil

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