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Carnival may have been stolen from poor Brazilians but it remains a powerful ritual of
intensification as well as a ritual of reversal. Discuss.

Ritual spectacles, such as the Rio de Janeiro carnival, are integral to the creation and proliferation of
national images of identity. Roberto DaMatta captures the symbolic resonance and national
significance of carnival stating, It was not Brazil that invented the Carnaval; on the contrary, it was
Carnaval that invented Brazil (DaMatta, 1984, p.245). Carnival, and in particular its samba dancing,
is synonymous with the country. Carnival has been created to be an extremely important and joyous
celebration in South America; engaging with the event creates a sense of unity due to excitement
and dressing up (Lewis, 2013, p.66).

As Brazil is a postcolonial country, carnival asks questions about the racial condition of the new postslavery world, cultural politics in the context of social and cultural diversity, and the conveyed
powers of race, class and gender through structural determinations, dominant groups, and identities
(Crichlow and Armstrong, 2012, p.402). After the publication of Gilberto Freyres work, The Masters
and The Slaves, Brazil enjoyed a reputation as a racial democracy. The term denotes that race
relations in Brazil have escaped racism and racial discrimination and that Brazilians are race blind,
thus they have no racial prejudice to one another. Brazil was the last New World country to abolish
slavery but Freyre believed it to be immune of the antagonistic and systemic forms of racism that
plague countries such as the United States (Sheriff, 1999, p.7).

The idea of Brazils racial democracy came under attack. Many people in the favelas, hillside shanty
towns, laugh at the idea that Brazil is a racial democracy (Sheriff, 1999, p.22). Brazils society is
divided and segmented by distinct social spaces and ethics (DaMatta, 1986, p.17). Racial
discrimination is exercised by Brazilian legal authorities, especially when favela inhabitants come to

the asphalt, which is a middle-class residential and business area. Many people in the favelas believe
their colour, more than their poverty, makes them increasingly susceptible and constantly
vulnerable to encounters with the police (Sheriff, 1999, p.8). As people from the favelas are easily
distinguished, it deters them to venture into the city as they will be subject to victimisation by the
police and city citizens. The myth of a racial democracy coexists with prejudice and discrimination by
masking it. Brazilian racism becomes more subtle because it is officially denied; no one speaks or
does anything about it.

But carnival is an astonishing event. It is where society rises above its internal divisions, resulting in
coherent totality (DaMatta, 1986, p.18) due to the web of obligatory social relationships dissolving
(DaMatta, 1986, p.11). During the days of carnival, people forget their everyday struggles through an
inversion of daily reality. People express their individual interests, feelings and sensibilities,
regardless of their colour or financial positions. A united egalitarian utopia is created where society
opens up to multiple events and possibilities (DaMatta, 1983, p.167) which are not possible in a
Brazilians everyday life. Brazilians are usually defined by their social and political relationships, but
carnival allows freedom and hope where people can choose the parade groups or blocos, they wish
to go to carnival with (DaMatta, 1986, p.12). This gives hope to a future that is similar to the image
that carnival creates, instead of the insubordination that is strife in Brazil. This is why carnival is
known as a ritual of reversal and intensification; it is an event where social relations are inverted and
people imagine the future of Brazil to be a colour-blind country, decreasing tensions and increasing
solidarity.

Carnival originated in the 1840s through the efforts of the elite residents of Rio. They hosted masked
balls and later introduced street parades where they entertained the poor for the few days that
carnival lasted. This developed colonial carnival in Rio, where playful versions of rituals of reversal
were created to decrease social tensions; women threw wax balls filled with water at men and

slaves made fun of their masters. The carnival came of age when poor coloured people started to
participate; bringing a new style of music and dance they called the samba. Samba originated from
the favelas and the poor black communities, they came out of the hills, risking the dangers that
entail from being on the asphalt parts of Rio. Daniel, a former member of a samba parade group,
and one of Sheriffs informants, stated samba is a part of black culture (Sheriff, 1999, p.17). The
samba style reflects the black Brazilians multiethnic and multicultural heritage. Samba songs focus
on three themes; the aversion of work and praising the malandragem lifestyle, women and money
(Oliven, 2011, p.172). The sexual female side of carnival demonstrates the male dominated society
where fleshy sensuous afro-Brazilian women are a sexual fantasy of the white elite Brazilian men.
The inversion of gender, where some males will dress up as women shows a tolerance for
homosexuality and bisexuality (Eakin, 1998, p.144). Carnival is an informal occasion, only demanding
pleasure. The reversals are asymmetric demonstrating what society desires, men may dress up as
woman and the poor may dress as the rich, but the women and the rich do not dress as their
counterparts (Lewis, 2013, p.70). No one suppresses their emotions during carnival like they would
in formal occasions, where people divorce their internal states from their external states (DaMatta,
1986, p.9). Everyone is brought together and interacts during this time, when they usually would
not; people are seen for who they really are.

The Carnival ritual that was created has developed over time; camouflaging and reproducing
inequalities and ostracism. Blocos were originally small local groups of men, women and children
who lived in particular communities or neighbourhoods. Each composed their own music and song,
created costumes, and choreographed dance routines to present a unified vision that expressed the
feelings of their internal states. They were the creators of carnival who managed and produced the
street parades, each being competitive but co-operative (Sheriff, 19, p.5). The white elite viewed
their parades and later formed samba schools to give greater coherence and structure to the street
celebrations (Eakin, 1998, p.146). Whilst some received funding the main cost was down to them,

which sometimes included help from illegal ways of attaining money; keeping in line with the
malandros tradition. Participation came with the ideal that the Rio carnival would represent ideals of
a racial democracy. But the totality carnival created became less inclusive as time went on. When
African cultural heritage became central to the re-imaging of the nation an influx of funds gave rise
to the development of much larger samba schools which dominated the street parade with huge
floats. They still used services from the hillside communities but included others from outside of Rio.
The commercialising of the Rio carnival, the disillusionment, and ultimate disenfranchising of the
poor and coloured peoples involvement and participation started when the white elite doubted the
legitimacy of the samba schools due to some of them being financed illegally. The ostracising of this
group was exacerbated further in 1984 when the Rio municipal government ceased parades on the
wide avenues of the city, restricting the once lavish, extravagant and free flowing parade and
housing it within the safe and economically profitable Sambodromo (Sheriff, 1999, p.6).

Sheriffs informants stated that the real carnival came to an end (Sheriff, 1999, p.6). Undisguised
prohibition and freedom was replaced with increasing financial pressures and the desire to earn
profits by the carnivals new owners due to the Sambodromo being built. This meant that many
poor people had been priced out and left unable to perform their proper role in the ritual,
expressing their internal states, due to costs being beyond their reach. During non-carnival time
many do not experience a racial democracy and it seems that one is not even created during the
festivities as people have to pay to get in, thus class and racial barriers are not broken down because
only a few will be able to afford it. It can be seen that carnival has been stolen from those who
created samba; this black thing (Sheriff, 1999, p.18).

Sheriff notes that the Rio carnival was stolen from their original owner. People in the favelas insist
it is due to the middle-class whites making carnival a spectacle for Americans (Sheriff, 1999, p.25). If
carnival is an event used to gain profits it would seem that carnival has lost its original meaning of

union in the community during carnival time and a projection of what an equal future may look like.
Sheriffs informants say their perception of what carnival means to them have changed as it was
originally reserved for poor people of colour (Sheriff, 19, p.21). But as carnival is a utopian ritual, is
does not show what Brazilian society actually is in reality, but how it has a duty and obligation to be.
Sheriff explains that because the poor and people of colour have always been willing participants to
conspire in the production of a nationalist illusion, they will continue to honour the dream of a
festival of national unity and a ritual of intensification that gives the appearance of a colour-blind
nation (Sheriff, 19, p.22). The white elites view the samba musicians in two ways; they are respected
and welcomed for their professional talent, yet when looked purely at their ethnic roots and colour,
they become entities of fear and suspicion; a poor black urban Brazilian (Sheriff, 1999, p.10). The
way Brazil ought to be is to see past class and racial boundaries and look at people for who they
really are, in this case, talented samba musicians. If exclusion increases it will become a challenge to
carnivals future. The less integrated and more isolated people become, in the everyday life, the
more problematical it becomes in creating even a temporary sense of harmony and community
togetherness.

DaMattas focal point is the communal importance of the carnival as a utopian ritual. Poor people
from the favelas parade down the main streets during carnival where in reality it is a fearful place for
these people. During carnival they are acknowledged, appreciated, and admired by the middle-class
and elites for their creativity and talents, who are usually disregarded and left out of the prosperous
economy. Brigas are street fights which often result in murder, demonstrating hostility concealed
beneath everyday sociability (Linger, 1990, p.62). They are a regular occurrence and nothing is done
about them as everyone keeps quiet (Linger, 1990, p.64). As nothing is vented about racial prejudice,
discrimination and brigas resentments will inevitably build up over time. If these frustrations and
resentments are supposed to be expelled harmlessly during carnival then why do fights break out
more so than normal (Linger, 1990, p.70)? This seems to show that rituals of inversion only intensify

feelings of frustration and resentment because the people know the imaginings of a colour-blind
society will not occur, thus increasing tensions instead of decreasing them. But this does not take
away from the fact that venting does work for some people. If carnival was not so heavily policed
then perhaps more brigas would occur.

As Carnival is so short there is no political hope for those who are usually determined by their
gender, class, race and sexuality (Goldstein, 2013, p.32). The only thing that has changed for the
poor as a result of carnival are higher barriers to entry for parade participation; class structure
remains rigid and there are no improvements in essential needs for the poor (Goldstein, 2013, p.33).
The ritual of inversion is intended to be only temporary and only occur due to the elites organising
the event (Goldstein, 2013, p.34), thus the changing of dominant social structures can only occur
due to the elites. Carnivals purpose is to reinforce normative social patters and structures (Lewis,
2013, p.68) of class positions and hierarchies because it keeps in place the existing system,
preventing a revolution (Lewis, 2013, p.70). Carnival successfully prevents a revolution by the rituals
releasing accumulated tension from insubordinate groups where dissatisfaction and frustration from
an unequal and authoritarian society is expressed. Carnival protects the social system of Brazil,
preventing it from collapsing and maintaining the social order; allowing people to put up with the
excessively bureaucratic system in everyday life (Schirch, 2005, p.145).

The extent of rituals ability to change social structures depends on persons adapting the way they
act as a result of new perspectives and relationships gained through ritual participation. Although
carnival is temporary in nature, perhaps the repetition of the event is necessary for those to truly
see (Schirch, 2005, p.145) the changes that should occur to make reality more of a utopia. Cultures
have ways to challenge whatever faces them but have had a hard time beating it. Anthropologists
have shown that maintaining the status quo is not the only result of rituals of reversal. The rituals
can actually reshape the usual order of things. The fantasy elements of masquerade, which

temporarily permit one to be virtually whoever they wish to be, can foster true liberation and
change. The myth of racial democracy coexists with prejudice and discrimination. It is powerful by
masking discrimination and prejudice and perhaps that is what makes carnival rituals of reversal and
intensification successful.

Currently it seems the only future that this event entails is a society encompassed by money rather
than a hope towards utopia. It may be too pessimistic to say that carnival has been stolen from the
poor Brazilian people. But their exclusion due to commercialisation, the participation of outsiders
and costs has greatly restricted the ability of the poor to participate and thus changing their view of
carnivals meaning to them. The roots of carnival began with the elites, who were then influenced by
the poor black communities with their unique samba music and dancing. This then again changed
with the move of the parade into the Sambodromo, the whitening of the carnival. This may make
many feel it has been stolen, but carnival still exists and the status quo may change again and come
full circle one more time.

Word count
2330

Resources
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[online] Available at:
<http://racespaceplace.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/crichlowpiersarticlecarnival.pdf> [Accessed 10
March 2014]

DaMatta, R., Green, R., 1983. An Interpretation of Carnaval. [online] Available at:
<http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/3684188.pdf?acceptTC=true&acceptTC=true&jpdConfirm=tru
e> [Accessed 10 March 2014]

DaMatta, R., 1984. On Carnaval, Informality and Magic: A Point of View from Brazil. In E. M. Bruner,
ed. 1984. Washington, DC: American Ethnological Society. pp. 230-246.

Damatta, R., 1986. Carnaval as a cultural problem: towards a theory of formal events and their
magic. [online] Available at: <http://kellogg.nd.edu/publications/workingpapers/WPS/079.pdf>
[Accessed 10 March 2014]

Eakin, M.C., 1998. Brazil: The Once and Future Country. New York: Palgrave Macmillian.

Goldstein, D.G., 2013. Laughter Out of Place: Race, Class, Violence, and Sexuality in a Rio
Shantytown. London: University of California Press, Ltd.

Lewis, J., 2013. The Anthropology of Cultural Performance. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillian.

Linger, D.T. 1990. Essential Outlines of Crime and Madness: ManFights in So Lus. Cultural
Anthropology, 5(1), pp.62-77.

Oliven, R.G., 2011. The Imaginary of Brazilian Popular Music. Vibrant: Virtual Brazilian Anthropology,
8(1), pp.170-207.

Schirch, L., 2005. Ritual and Symbol in Peacebuilding. Bloomfield: Kumarian Press.

Sheriff, R.E., 1999. The Theft of Carnaval: National Spectacle and Racial Politics in Rio de Janeiro.
Cultural Anthropology, 14(1), pp.3-28.