Review of Performing Brazil: Essays on Culture, Identity, and the Performing Arts.

What is it about?

Review of Performing Brazil: Essays on Culture, Identity, and the Performing Arts. Edited by Severino J. Albuquerque and Kathryn Bishop-Sanchez. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press

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Why is it important?

The intersection of performance studies and Brazilian studies is still such a relatively neglected area that Performing Brazil should be considered an important contribution by its existence alone. On the performance studies side: among the limited books on Latin America, those that dedicate at least one chapter to Brazil are still the exception, while the equation of Latin America with Spanish-speaking countries is still the rule. On the Brazilian studies side: despite a recent spike in interest, in the majority of US universities Brazilian cultural studies is still treated as an afterthought within departments of Spanish and Portuguese. This dearth of resources stands in contrast to the prominent position of Brazil within the US cultural imaginary. As Severino J. Albuquerque and Kathryn Bishop-Sanchez point out in their introduction to the book, popular and Afro-Brazilian cultural expressions such as capoeira, samba, and carnival are well known to US audiences, as are a handful of recognizable Brazilian names, particularly in music and cinema. Brazilian studies in the United States is deeply tied to the specificities of its development within this country, and Performing Brazil should be read within this genealogy. The merit of the book, however, lies in its refusal to sit comfortably within the space that has been already carved out for Brazil both within Brazilian studies and within the US cultural imaginary.