The Human Tradition in Modern Brazil (review)

The Human Tradition in Modern Brazil addresses the question of national identity brought to light by historian John Charles Chasteen: not how Brazil came to be called a nation, but just what nation meant to Brazilians of diverse social, regional, racial, and cultural descriptions. According to Peter Beattie, the collection "explores how individuals with non-elite origins experienced historical continuities and changes related to the rise of national identity after Brazil won its independence from Portugal in 1822." Beattie presents an insightful introduction and fifteen short biographies authored by Brazilian and U.S. historians. Four chronological sections (1800�2000) analyze individuals from all five of Brazil's geographic regions. As a whole, the biographies give insight into diverse and often contested meanings of brasilidade, or Brazilianness, which defy broad generalizations. Beattie's introduction argues that biography is a particularly useful historical approach to explain social, cultural as well as political changes that took place in post-independence Brazil. Beattie also argues that the "most important reason to pay attention to the lives, hopes, and ambitions of non-elite persons is that our understanding of the past is limited and distorted without them." Acknowledging the influences of the new social history and the new cultural

Acknowledging the influences of the new social history and the new cultural history, Beattie calls for biography to examine the "basic and enduring tension" between "individual versus communal rights and obligations." Thus, Marcus J.M. de Carvalho explores the case of freeman Agostino José Pereira, who was jailed as a dangerous political radical by local authorities for preaching salvation and teaching literacy to black men and women in Recife, Pernambuco. This biography gives the reader a "rare glimpse" into how one Afro-Brazilian understood the reality andt he rhetori of independence. In a second example, Robert M. Levine provides up-to-date research on the experience of a twentieth-century Afro-Brazilian woman who was a scrappy slum survivor and self-taught author. Carolina Maria de Jesus's writing reveals what Levine calls brilliant description of social contradictions. But as Levine chronicles, Carolina's irreverent perspective has been largely rejected by middle and upper class Brazilians, who were discomfited by her "homespun" candor. These non-elite biographies show how Brazilians understood their relationship to collective communities including the nation. They also illustrate how some non-elite women and men, who may have participated in a nationalist discourse, found regional and local identity groups far more meaningful.

As one facet of brasilidade, gender warrants consideration in the nonelite biography. Although twelve biographies address men and only three address women, Beattie asserts that "gender is a central concern to most chapters whether they focus on men or women." For example, Gabriela dos Reis Sampaio examines Juca Rosa, a carioca black folk healer, who dispensed medical, financial and sexual advice in a thriving cult practice. The biography explores why Juca's personal power as "Father," and the creole folk traditions he employed, were so threatening to the political elite. Sampaio also focuses on the devotion expressed by the poor black women and some middle-class white women who became Juca's "daughters." While the article analyzes Juca's experience in its gendered context, such an understated approach to gender might be lost on inexperienced students, and the collection would benefit from more explicit gender analysis.

It is noteworthy that Beattie and his authors succinctly address the circumstances of the documentary base of their research, while still keeping the articles readable. The non-elites in these biographies are out of the ordinary because their encounters with institutions created written records. As Sampaio points out, while folk healer Juca Rosa was "famous" in Rio, it wasn't until a public scandal erupted about his sexual liaisonwith awhitewoman thatmultiplewritten sources (court documents, urban newspapers) were produced. This concise historiographic commentary is useful because it uncovers epistemological issues historians...