Monthly Archives: May 2009

Rich man’s trash, Indigenous man’s treasure

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Not too long after a landmark win for indigenous peoples in Raposa – Serra do Sol, it seems the fight for rights is a continuous process, even though the land they live on has been afforded to them by Brazilian law and the fact that they were there first. In a video from 2007, Journeyman Pictures reported on a Guarani tribe fighting the company Aracruz, a cellulose manufacturer, who has been turning their land into eucalyptus plantations. What is then produced from the eucalyptus is toilet paper for Europeans…which means the produce from the Guarani land is disposable while shedding light on how the word like value can take on different meanings to different people.

Anyways, here is a short video recap on the Raposa – Serra do Sol issue, plus my own reporting on it. Now, here is the video on the Guarani struggle.

Portuguese Diglossia – Part 1

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According to some contemporary Brazilian linguists, Brazilian Portuguese may be a highly diglossic language. This theory claims that there is an L-variant (L for Low, termed “Brazilian Vernacular”), which would be the mother tongue of all Brazilians, and an H-variant (H for High, standard Brazilian Portuguese) acquired through schooling. L-variant represents a simplified form of the language (in terms of grammar, but not of phonetics) that could have evolved from 16th century Portuguese, influenced by Amerindian (mostly Tupi) and African languages, while H-variant would be based on 19th century European Portuguese (and very similar to Standard European Portuguese, with only minor differences in spelling and grammar usage). Mário A. Perini, a Brazilian linguist, even compares the depth of the differences between L- and H- variants of Brazilian Portuguese with those between Standard Spanish and Standard Portuguese. However, his proposal is not widely accepted by either grammarians or academics. Milton M. Azevedo wrote a chapter on diglossia in his monography: Portuguese language (A linguistic introduction), published by prestigious Cambridge University Press, in 2005.

Usage

From this point of view, the L-variant is the spoken form of Brazilian Portuguese, which should be avoided only in very formal speech (court interrogation, political debate) while the H-variant is the written form of Brazilian Portuguese, avoided only in informal writing (such as songs lyrics, love letters, intimate friends correspondence). Even language professors many times use the L-variant while explaining students the structure and usage of the H-variant; in essays, nevertheless, all students are expected to use H-variant.

While the L-variant may used in songs, movies, soap operas, sitcoms and other television shows, although, at times, the H-variant is used in historic films or soap operas to make the language used sound more ‘elegant’ and/or ‘archaic’. There is a claim that the H-variant used to be preferred when dubbing foreign films and series into Brazilian Portuguese, but nowadays the L-variant is preferred, although this seems to lack evidence. Movie subtitles normally use a mixture of L- and H-variants, but remain closer to the H-variant.

Most literary works are written in the H-variant. There would have been attempts at writing in the L-variant (such as the masterpiece Macunaíma, written by Brazilian modernist Mário de Andrade and Grande Sertão: Veredas, by João Guimarães Rosa), but, presently, the L-variant is claimed to be used only in dialogue. Still, many contemporary writers like using the H-variant even in informal dialogue. This is also true of translated books, which never use the L-variant, only the H one. Children’s books seem to be more L-friendly, but, again, if they are translated from another language (The Little Prince, for instance) they will use the H-variant only.

Salvador gets rained on…a lot

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“On Tuesday May 5th, Salvador, the original capital of Brazil, experienced moments of desperation with the strong rain that overran the whole city. Hundreds of incidents were reported to the Civil Defense, which had recorded 392 requests for emergency care by 7pm of the same day. In addition to collapsed houses, fallen trees and landslides, there were also massive traffic jams which brought chaos to drivers and commuters.

Deaths were reported in areas where houses are condemned due to lack of infrastructure and the imminent risk of collapse, three of them in the neighborhood of Pirajá. Also, a mother and a daughter fell into a canal and were dragged away by the strong current. The mother’s body was found on Wednesday morning, the daughter’s only one day after, on May 7th.

The event, which was considered a catastrophe by the population, is another case of the type of natural disaster that in the past used to hit the city with less magnitude. In addition to this,  it reveals a lack of proper housing and urban planning in the biggest Brazilian cities, as local authorities neglect the unrestrained growth of houses and shanty towns on the slopes, further exposing residents to the risk of accidents and even death.”  - Source

Monitoring internet usage in Brazil

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As France just approved its version of a law to monitor Internet usage (Hadopi – High Authority for the Broadcast of Content and the Protection of Rights on the Internet) under the veil of stopping illegal downloaders from having Internet access, Brazil has its own version in the works.

The “Lei Azeredo” which was approved in the Senate mid-year in 2008 and on its way to being approved as an official law, criminalizes thirteen acts made possible by the Internet. The criminalization is just the veil under which Internet usage would be monitored by law and kept on record for three years, including what sites you visited, when and for how long. As with most laws internationally, the “positive” side is highlighted while the negative side is tucked away in the back somewhere in fine print.

Critics are comparing the “Lei Azeredo”, named after the Senator Eduardo Azeredo, to the AI-5 (Institutional Act 5) which is one of the principal signs of a military dictatorship in Brazil. The AI-5 was authored in 1968 and gave permission to the President of the Republic of Brazil to ignore checks and balances and suspend the political rights of any citizen. While invoking such a resemblance might be seen as going too far, it is very important to always search out the hidden ramifications of any law that is a threat to liberty. Often times, citizens consider “being informed” as watching the news and reading the newspaper in order to understand multi-faceted and complex laws when in reality, they are merely being herded like sheep.

“When you consult specialists, you would see that there isn’t any kind of threat being made against freedom on the Internet, there is no spying being done online. The objective is to combat crimes”, affirmed the Senator.

Apparently, the Senator knows how to invoke something from his own arsenal, the “expert religion”, which depends on experts and authorities to give the people their ideas and opinions. What is important here is to think for yourself and to begin to ask yourself fundamental questions such as, “what is a law?” Perhaps you may see that the terms legal and illegal don’t always coincide with right and wrong, that they are merely terms for acts and ideas which lawmakers deem to be right and wrong.

- Adam

Portuguese Pot of Gold – Intermediate learners

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I discovered a real pot of gold in terms of Portuguese language learning…but like most pots of gold at the end of any ol’ rainbow, by the time you get there, the gold isn’t there. What I mean by that, is it seems these telecourse lessons are most likely taken from a DVD…but nonetheless, they are on Youtube for now and for the sake of the intermediate learners out there, it’s best they stay put. The lessons are usually in two parts and finding the beginning of the series isn’t easy…in fact, I spent a good 10 minutes trying to locate the start of it all but came away empty.

Anyways, here’s an example

Here’s the blog where they can also be found…

Basement of the Modelo Market

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poraogrande.jpg

In the porão (basement) of the Mercado Modelo in the Cidade Baixa area of Salvador, lies the senzala (slave quarters) where slaves, brought to Colonial Bahia from Africa, were chained to the walls until being sold. The Mercado Modelo, being the city’s third Customs House, had an area reserved for receiving shipments arriving from the open seas. One of the serious problems that faced the slaves was the fact that the porão lies below sea level and therefore would, from time to time, fill up with water and take many lives. These days, the area is open to visitation and offers raised slabs of concrete which allow the visitor to tour the basement even when the tide is high. Watching the short clip below, it’s easy to imagine the lights being lanterns and the sounds in the dead of the night being frightening for those that were held captive there.

Doing “The Wait”

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I’d like to talk for a minute about what I like to call “the wait”, even though it’s not solely a Brazilian thing. Be it on the weekend, during the holiday, or in the evenings…Brazilians love to do “the wait”.

Now, you might be thinking it’s some sort of new dance craze that has struck the country, but no…in fact, it’s the lack of steps involved that give it its name.

“The wait” is to sit on the sidewalk, preferably in a chair, more preferably with others or at least in ear-shot of others. Two other popular places to do this include leaning out the window facing the street and sitting on the doorstep. It’s not entirely clear what they are waiting for or why but maybe it’s a way to get back at all the long lines, the bureaucracy, the red tape, etc…perhaps to be able to say “See? I can wait because I want to, because I feel like it and most importantly, because I’m free.” Or perhaps I’m wrong and Brazilians simply like to wait…

Some examples…

Here, here and here.

General Amnesty for foreigners – Update

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My post on general amnesty for foreigners in Brazil has picked up some considerable views. After doing some light digging, I couldn’t come up with much news on the issue but then a reader came to the rescue and introduced me to where the bill is (in PT) online and how any updates regarding the bill would be posted there.

Good news, fellow Brazilianists! Step 2 of 4 has occurred!

Step 1 – Write the bill (Check)
Step 2 – Have the Senate sign the bill (Check)
Step 3 - Have the House make some corrections
Step 4 – Have the President sign it into law

It’s about time I get my behind back to Brazil!…assuming this isn’t a joke as it was approved on April 1st. Kidding, I’m sure that it’s the real deal.