"Green Hells" and Dancing Bulls
Race and Identity in the Urban Amazon of Brazil
Dr. Marnie Watson
Series Topic
Dr. Watson’s research examines a traditional Brazilian folklore festival that is being reworked to express a modern, global identity for urban Amazonians. In her talk, she will discuss her ethnographic research in Manaus, Brazil. The boi-bumba, or "dancing bull" festival, has long been seen as a key site in which Brazilian ideas of tri-racial harmony encompassing those of European, African, and indigenous heritage can be understood. She explores how the version performed in the state of Amazonas adds a new element, as it valorizes rural, mixed-race Amazonians called Caboclos, a population that has long experienced racial, ethnic, and socio-economic marginalization. Since the 1990s, the Amazonas boi-bumba has become a positive emblem of a modern mixed-race identity, and there is a growing movement of urbanites to self-identify as Caboclo. Her research sheds light on this new, urban mixed-heritage identity that is uniquely Amazonian, self-consciously global, and being used to challenge the cultural and economic hegemony of the Brazilian southeast.
YSU Anthropology Colloquium's Professor Series with Dr. Marnie Watson
Dr. Watson will be speaking in the Jones Room located in Kilcawley Center.
Doors open at 5:45pm and the talk begins at 6pm.
Our event is free to students and free and open to the public, but parking is $5 for those without a parking permit.