How can traditional foods give rise to anthropological study?
On our way to the funky, hip town of Pirenopolis, we stopped at a restored farm for a tour and brunch. We were privileged to be treated to an historic journey by a vibrant, knowledgable woman, a descendant of owners of the former sugar cane plantation.
Her explanation of colonial rule of Brazil by the Portuguese and the use of slave labor illuminates the social injustices facing today's Brasileiros.
When the Portuguese explored Brazil, they sent only men, not families. They intention was not to settle but to gain riches for Portugal. The slave trade was established to ensure a labor supply for economic ventures: sugar cane plantations in the 1500s, gold mining, and later coffee. Around 5,000,000 slaves were brought from Africa to Brazil.
The Portuguese ruled Brazil until 1822 and it was the last country in the New World to abolish slavery, 1880. Because there were no Portuguese women, the Europeans produced offspring with Indians and Africans. According to a saying, white woman was for marrying, a black woman for housework, and a mulatto woman for intimacy. Therefore, in Brazil, slavery did not mean legal segregation as it did in the US. Half of all Brazilians today report begin descendant of slaves.
The farm produced cane sugar for local consumption and cotton for trade. It took six months for burros to reach Rio where the cotton was traded for slaves. Because the distance was so great, slaves were highly prized and not physically mistreated on this farm with private quarters housing men and women separately and families were kept together while the children were young.
The stone wall around the farm was unnecessary, but built for the purpose of keeping the slaves busy because the Portuguese did not want them to "idle." The native peoples in the area had subsisted by gathering food and because the weather is consistently warm, never had to work to store provisions over a cold winter as those in North America did. Hence "idling" was part of the local culture and according to our hostess, the impetus for the rich heritage of music and artistic expression in the area.
The entrance at the end of the veranda leads to a chapel, Adorned primarily in a Catholic Portuguese style the artwork carries evidence of the lives of the slaves who painted it. Note the chains in the wall pattern below and the mirrors which are a part of Candomble, a religion brought from Africa by slaves.
Because the ceiling painting of the saint below is unsigned it is assumed that it was painted by a slave. At one point, educated slaves were mistakenly traded but were returned because the owners knew the dangers posed by knowledge.
Women and blacks could not enter the chapel to pray. The slaves had their own place of worship, but the women could watch men pray through a screen.
Our hostess's sorrow at the injustices of the past system were evident in her historical analysis. Because the Portuguese kings exploited Brazil for it's wealth which was carried back to Portugal while forbidding institutions of higher education in Brazil (The first university wasn't established until the 1770's) and claiming racial superiority, the people of Brazil have felt inferior. Even the "eiros" suffix on the Portuguese word for the people of Brazil, Brasileiros, menas "worker" rather than citizen which would be the suffix ianos).
She believes today's protests are needed to throw off the endurance of unjust treatment.
The visit was the first for our fellow teachers and hosts pictured below. They were intrigued by the connections she made with colonial practices and Portuguese words today, which of course I could not appreciate:(
The tour ended with a repast of foods originating from Brazil's "Three Races": pastries from Portugal, corn husk wrapped mantioc (yucca root) from the Indians, and leaf filled delectables from Africa. Kibi, a meal based fried snack with Arab origins was on the table, along with a choice of Brazil's famous fruit juices.
We ate the past.
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