Often called the "most African" part of Brazil, the northeastern
state of Bahia has the country's largest Afro-descendant population
and a black culture renowned for its vibrancy. In "Mama Africa,"
Patricia de Santana Pinho examines the meanings of Africa in Bahian
constructions of blackness. Combining insights from anthropology,
sociology, and cultural studies, Pinho considers how Afro-Bahian
cultural groups, known as "blocos afro," conceive of Africanness,
blackness, and themselves in relation to both. "Mama Africa" is a
translated, updated, and expanded edition of an award-winning book
published in Brazil in 2004. Central to the book, and to Bahian
constructions of blackness, is what Pinho calls "the myth of Mama
Africa," the idea that Africa exists as a nurturing spirit inside
every black person.
Pinho explores how Bahian cultural production influences and is
influenced by black diasporic cultures and the idealization of
Africa--to the extent that Bahia draws African American tourists
wanting to learn about their heritage. Analyzing the conceptions of
blackness produced by the blocos afro, she describes how Africa is
re-inscribed on the body through clothes, hairstyles, and jewelry;
once demeaned, blackness is reclaimed as a source of beauty and
pride. Turning to the body's interior, Pinho explains that the myth
of Mama Africa implies that black appearances have corresponding
black essences. Musical and dance abilities are seen as naturally
belonging to black people, and these traits are often believed to
be transmitted by blood. Pinho argues that such essentialized ideas
of blackness render black culture increasingly vulnerable to
exploitation by the state and commercial interests. She contends
that the myth of Mama Africa, while informing oppositional black
identities, overlaps with a constraining notion of Bahianness
promoted by the government and the tourist industry.
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