Brazilian Adoption of the Amerindian as a Potent Symbol of Romantic Nationalism in the 19th Century - Essay Example

Brazilian Adoption of the Amerindian as a Potent Symbol of Romantic Nationalism in the 19th Century Brazilian Adoption of the Amerindian as a Potent Symbol of Romantic Nationalism in the 19th Century Introduction Culture is basically a description of the beliefs, practices and behavior of a certain population or group of people (Rehbein, 2011). The Native American culture was diverse, mostly nomadic, semi-nomadic or static. Most of the Amerindians practiced a semi-nomadic lifestyle and culture that included hunting, gathering, fishing and agriculture. In Brazil today, there is an estimated 0.4% of the total population as indigenous population. There are many aspects of the traditional Indian culture in the modern-day Brazil, and hence Amerindians have a rich history of culture and originality. Native American culture formed a significant part of the Brazilian history and culture, especially the Amerindians. This is owing to the presence of a rich historical and ethnic culture. In romantic nationalism, a state derives its political authority through cultural practices, race, or religion. In this case, both history and culture are used by the state as an organic consequence of national unity (Rehbein, 2011). The Amerindian culture brought about significant cultural development in the Brazilian economy, with the traditional practices integrated into the modern Brazil culture. The Amerindians introduced the hammock, which was later modified and developed into designer furniture. On the other hand, the Amerindian way of farming sparked dynamics in the Latin American farming means, such as the bringing on of the red vegetable dye annatto that had become popular in the Brazilian kitchens, in the 19th century, before the discovery of the aniline dye. Additionally, the Amerindians had perfected traditional use of cassava, which was considered bitter and highly poisonous, as a delicacy and preservative. The Amerindians are also traditionally credited for the discovery of sugarcane farming and the invention of sugarcane products, such as the waraap (a fermented cane juice). The Amerindian culture and the Impacts on the Brazilian culture in the 19th Century There was creation of conflict between the European and Native American cultures, whereby the Native Americans took land for semi-nomadic practices that had limited permanent farming practices. On the other hand, there was cultural and ethnic conflict due to skin-color and religion (Rehbein, 2011). The rising conflict created by the indigenous population forced the Brazilian authorities to impose restrictions in the terms of land and governance. The Amerindians were forced to live on specially-allocated land and reservations, with limited and unreliable resource support from the government. Traditionally, the Amerindians were barter traders. However, they were forced to buy food supplies and other items from their white counterparts due to the limited land for farming and settlement. The presence of the growing Amerindian population created a threat to the original Brazilian population in the terms of land and other resources, and hence created insecurity and conflict. The Brazilian authorities were thereby forced to impose virtual romantic nationalism on the Amerindian population as a measure of national security and protection of the tenure of its citizens (Wood, 2013). Brazil used strategies of alien population control on the Amerindians, some of which sparked social conflict amongst the indigenous and natives. As a matter of fact, the Brazilian authorities used land and food resources as a governance measure and population-control strategy. However, these strategies created a lot of resistance from the Native Americans since they practiced semi-nomadic lifestyles (Rehbein, 2011). The latter hated living on the land reserves allocated to them by the Brazilian authorities, which subjected them to poverty and poor living conditions. Most of the natives were poor and encountered severe food crises and financial crises. They were depending on the financial aid from the Brazilian authorities, also known as annuity, and hence were vulnerable to poverty (Wood, 2013). Poverty and starvation created huge resistance from the Amerindians, who wanted freedom and access to more land, and hence there was a social conflict between the natives and the Brazilian traders who could not offer them food items on credit. This necessitated the use of assimilation to be able to integrate the Amerindian culture into the Brazilian culture (Rehbein, 2011). According to the romantic nationalism, the Amerindians were to behave like whites and practice the Brazilian culture for survival. Assimilation aimed at protecting the white nationals through imposition of survival regulations for the Native Americans, that is, to practice the white culture. Romantic nationalism is an effective strategy of reducing or eliminating hunting and gathering practices, which were the basic cultural practices for the Amerindians, and hence the Brazilian authorities should have adopted the Amerindians as a potent symbol of romantic nationalism (Rehbein, 2011). On the other hand, the Amerindians were non-Christians. White missionaries introduced Christianity to the Amerindian population as a control measure and implementation strategy for romantic nationalism. However, this was an infringement of basic rights for the Amerindian community and acted as a social barrier. The alienation of the Amerindian communities from the rest of the Brazilian population is likely to have encouraged racism and discrimination in the indigenous Brazilian population, thereby catalyzing social conflict. However, it is an effective strategy in the implementation of assimilation and the adoption of the Amerindians as a symbol of romantic nationalism (Wood, 2013). The Brazilian authorities should have effected further land alienation and allocation in the reservations, instead of reducing the land for the Amerindians. Allocation of land to individual Amerindian family units could have been more effective and efficient for the Brazilian government, as well as more suitable for countering resistance and social conflict. However, it was a huge blow on the Amerindian community who lived as a block and was likely to spur resistance and conflict. The Amerindian community and other Native Americans have strong history and culture that was hard to eliminate, and hence assimilation and implementation of romantic nationalism was the effective way to control the growing Amerindian population, without the creation of social and/or economic conflict (Wood, 2013). In the 19th century, there was a prevalence of dangerous forms of nationalism that created huge conflict in Latin America, especially due to racial paradox (Wood, 2013). There was a huge fatality level during the independence wars due to the prevalence of racial discrimination and ethnic conflicts. These wars were elevated into racial wars and rebellions, and hence the creation of social hostility and slavery. However, this reformed towards the end of the 19th century whereby there was a better understanding of national identity and social theory, as per the political praxis. Racial integration was proven to be inevitable due to the hybrid nature of both culture and national identity. Due to these dynamics, Brazil had to adopt the Amerindian as a potent symbol of romantic nationalism to avoid the arising of dangerous conflicts (Wood, 2013). Social equality is critical in socioeconomic growth, and hence there was a need for Brazil to implement romantic nationalism in the bid to reduce or eliminate discrimination against the Amerindians (Rehbein, 2011). However, the use of reservations and assimilation was improperly implemented in the terms of the well-being of the natives. The Native Americans had become hegemonic in Latin American politics, and hence the dire need of the implementation of romantic nationalism and the subsequent adoption of the Amerindian for easier social monitoring and political significance. The introduction of Christianity was a good counter to the Afro-American religious cults though the natives were frequently persecuted, which became a strong sign of discrimination and racism (Wood, 2013). Such trends were likely to cause the fracturing of socio-political institutions, both ethnically and racially, after independence. Romantic nationalism could have been a barrier to severe compromise on the black Brazilian population by the white population, along the cultural line (Wood, 2013). Cultural diversity brings about socioeconomic changes that are critical in the socioeconomic development, such as the cultural innovations credited to the Amerindian community and other Native Americans. The conflict between the natives and the neo-Europeans could have been easily avoided through development and effective implementation of more inclusive forms of national identity, which is a good barrier to modern conflict. Sociopolitical and cultural conflicts may carry huge complexity due to lack of or inefficient national identity strategies, and hence there was a need for the inclusiveness of race into forms of nationalism (Burkholder & Johnson, 2008). Brazil has faced significant criticism due to the prevalence of racial tolerance and inclusivity in the population, which has been driven by the fact that there is an existent racial discrimination and inequality in the Brazilian society. As a matter of fact, many Brazilian cities, in the 19th century, were slave cities such that most of Rio de Janeiro’s population consisted of slaves. There was a higher transfer of Africans to Brazil as compared to other parts of Europe (Rehbein, 2011). During the Brazilian independence, it was much easier for new arrivals to connect and make contact with the indigenous people from most of the Brazilian cities than it was from the North American coast (Burkholder & Johnson, 2008). Amerindians were hostile and controlled the coastal route to both New York and Boston, as a reaction to the racial and cultural discrimination in the fight for independence. The introduction of religion and western sexuality to the Amerindian population made Brazil created jitters and rifts in the Amerindian culture, which was heavily compromised by the Brazilian government. Romantic nationalism can be a perfect avenue for the integration of culture and race into nationalism, and hence is an operative technique to neutralize racial and cultural imbalances (Burkholder & Johnson, 2008). According to the 19th century history of Brazil, it is evident that lack of racial integration can be fatal to the society and economy. Despite the admiration of the Amerindian culture, racism and the racial hierarchy are significant stumbling blocks and there is a huge compromise and misconception of miscegenation in Europe, especially Latin America. Native Americans are highly vulnerable to their own culture and nationalism, due to the political and power pollution by racism (Burkholder & Johnson, 2008). Brazilian intellectuals responsible for the development of modernization, racism and unification of nationalism, in the 19th century, for the abolition of slavery encountered significant challenges. This resulted to ambiguity especially in the Brazilian social theory, by the Brazilian intellects, as the efficient response to nationality issues and the description of the direction of the 20th century (Rehbein, 2011). There was always a discrepancy and misconception in the Brazilian forms of nationalism due to the social inequity caused by ethnic, regional and national identities (Rehbein, 2011). Increased European migration led to a rise in racial hierarchies, and hence a huge increase in discrimination of race and culture in Brazilian nationalism. Conclusion Racism and ethnic discrimination in the nineteenth-century Brazil has been real and undeniable, especially in in the forms of national identity (Burkholder & Johnson, 2008). Brazil should have adopted the Amerindian as a potent symbol of romantic nationalism due to the high prevalence of racism and rebellion from the native communities in Brazil. The Amerindian culture brought about significant cultural development in the Brazilian economy, with the traditional practices integrated into the modern Brazil culture. Cultural diversity, which brings about socioeconomic changes that are critical in the socioeconomic development, was significant for both the political and socioeconomic growth, and hence the recognition of the Amerindian culture was paramount and could have been eased by the implementation of romantic nationalism strategies (Wood, 2013). Romantic nationalism can be a perfect avenue for the integration of culture and race into nationalism, and therefore, be a good way to neutralize racial and cultural imbalances. Romantic nationalism is an effective strategy of reducing or eliminating hunting and gathering practices, which were the basic cultural practices for the Amerindians, and hence the Brazilian authorities should have adopted the Amerindians as a potent symbol of romantic nationalism (Wood, 2013). Additionally, sociopolitical and cultural conflicts may carry huge complexity due to lack of/inefficient national identity strategies, and hence there was a need for the inclusiveness of race into forms of nationalism (Rehbein, 2011). Romantic nationalization could, therefore have been the efficient avenue for national identity in Brazil due to the high alien population that brought about cultural, ethnic and religious diversities (Burkholder & Johnson, 2008). References Burkholder, M. & Johnson, L. 2008. Colonial Latin America. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Rehbein, B. 2011. Globalization and inequality in emerging societies. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. Wood, M. 2013. Black milk: imagining slavery in the visual cultures of Brazil and America. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. Read More