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Commerce, Culture, and Community: African Brazilian Women Negotiating Their Social Economies

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The Black Social Economy in the Americas

Part of the book series: Perspectives from Social Economics ((PSE))

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Abstract

This chapter examines key routes of empowerment through which Afro-Brazilian women participate in order to gain social and economic control.

Afro-Brazilian women often participate in traditional and non-traditional industries that include cultural tourism in order to create and maintain environments of security and power. My study investigates the black women of Bahia, Brazil, as cultural archetypes of race and nation and their relationship to tourism. Despite the racial inequities and the misogynistic societal limits of women in the public space, Afro-Bahian women create agency through their community activism and take advantage of the momentum generated by the multifaceted wheels of tourism.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    “Blocos Afro” is the Portuguese word for Black Carnival Group. This group is an association of revelers who play and perform African Brazilian rhythms and dances at carnival and throughout the year. They are usually connected to a particular community or city and often play a political and social role that goes beyond their participation in carnival (Tosta 2010, 189).

  2. 2.

    R$ is the symbol for the Real, Brazilian currency.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. ACA, English and Humanities Division, Central Piedmont Community College, Charlotte, NC, USA

    Tiffany Y. Boyd-Adams

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  1. Tiffany Y. Boyd-Adams
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. York University, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Caroline Shenaz Hossein

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Boyd-Adams, T.Y. (2018). Commerce, Culture, and Community: African Brazilian Women Negotiating Their Social Economies. In: Hossein, C. (eds) The Black Social Economy in the Americas. Perspectives from Social Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-60047-9_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-60047-9_8

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-60278-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-60047-9

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