Cooking up Authenticity in an Afro-Brazilian pot: Nationalism, Racism, Tourism, and Consumption of low-fired earthenware ceramics in Pernambuco, Brazil.

Summary

Black beans, smoked sausage, salted beef, the less desirable pig parts, garlic, and onion. These are the basic ingredients of the Brazilian national dish, feijoada. But there is another ingredient, one frequently overlooked, but essential element of the authenticity in the minds of Brazilians. The ceramic pot, holding the magic of the meal’s miscegenation: African, European and Amerindian ingredients blended together in a seemingly innocuous object. Unlike other places in the African Diaspora, low-fired earthenware pots have remained a part of the Brazilian kitchen into the 21st century. Their history in this landscape is part of a complex narrative of racism, capitalism and nationalism. In this paper, I will explore these pots’ consumption through archaeological excavations at the camping club Monjope in the late 20th century and experiences in Pernambuco in 2011 and 2012, to explore the pots’ symbolic meaning and their continued attachment to the racial hierarchy in Brazil.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions) 2018   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2018

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 998