Politics and Music in Brazil

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor, Undergraduate

Music and politics have a deep history. Nationalists, for example, have long used music to imagine the nation in exclusive terms. Twentieth century cultural ambassadors, by contrast, employed music to speak to their nation’s inclusivity and thereby lobby for its interests. In the case of Brazil, music has been used by official and nonofficial in the construction of an image of a joyful multiracial democratic nation, in stark contrast with the disturbing history of economic, social, and political instability which led it to be one of the most unequal and violent countries in the world despite being one of the wealthiest. How then have the arts, and especially music, been used by different governments in the building of a nation? Furthermore, how have they been used by diverse social groups and organizations in order to defend their political ideas? This seminar explores the construction of Brazilian identity through the relationship of music to nationalism, religion, race, gender, cultural diplomacy, heritagization, and finally, protest. More broadly, it aims to give students the tools to understand, from historical, political, and critical perspectives, how different visions of a nation are molded through creative processes.