Laughter Out of Place (Intro and Ch. 1)

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Laughter Out of Place (Intro and Ch. 1) by Mind Map: Laughter Out of Place (Intro and Ch. 1)

1. History and Class Structure

1.1. Capitalism v. Imperialism

1.1.1. Dominant classes have the ability to rewrite history to suit them; limited by capitalism

1.1.1.1. "[Poorer classes] have not had the privilege of becoming a well-organized or a highly politicized social movement. At least, not yet." (Goldstein, 15).

1.2. Political economy

1.2.1. Violent military takeovers

1.2.2. Public conceptions based on the ideas that socialism failed lent to acceptance of political climate

1.2.3. Institutionalized system of favors for the privileged

1.2.4. "in the name of the people without the people" (Goldstein, 57).

2. Anthropological Constraints and Issues

2.1. Marxism

2.2. Nancy Scheper-Hughes ethnographic perspective

2.3. Debunked "Culture of Poverty"

2.3.1. The idea that poor perpetuates poor and that education is the way to break the cycle

3. Carnival

3.1. Reflects history of Brazilian politics and class structure

3.1.1. Carnivalesque Aesthetic permeating into aspects of art, culture, daily life (Goldstein, 34).

3.2. Exhibition of joy; time of frivolous consumption before Lent

3.2.1. Poor classes working during upper- and middle-class celebrations of Carnival

3.3. Gives false conceptions of ideal culture based on mixing of classes

4. Laughter

4.1. Act of resistance

4.1.1. indirect "weapon of rebellion" (Goldstein, 16).

4.2. Way to express sadness without worsening personal affects of situation

4.2.1. Worker relating to a soap opera and laughing at a part where their employer may cry in empathy

4.3. Black humor

4.3.1. Breton's ability to find laughter in human tragedy

4.3.1.1. Escape of pain and suffering (Goldstein, 15).

4.3.2. Freud's aggressive impulse

5. Wealth Disparity

5.1. Friendship between classes

5.1.1. Gloria is close friends with the relatively successful Isadora

5.1.1.1. Isadora loans Gloria money at times

5.1.1.2. Marked disparity within favela

5.1.2. Goldstein refers to staying at Gloria's shack

5.2. Employee-Patron relationship

5.2.1. Poorer classes enveloped in upper-class daily functions

5.2.1.1. Gloria shops for food to cook in Katy's kitchen

5.2.1.2. Poor come to beg on street corners in wealthy areas

5.2.2. Goldstein refers to normalcy of having a paid house-keeper for all intellectual Brazilians

5.3. Government housing placed just beyond favela within view of poorest area of Felicidade Eterna

5.3.1. Structural perpetuation of poverty

5.3.2. Structural ignorance of and violence toward al gente

6. Family

6.1. Goldstein becomes "white daughter" to Gloria

6.2. Many of Gloria's children were her ex-lover's; opted to stay in deplorable conditions to feel familial

7. American Conceptions of Brazilian Culture

7.1. Rooted in ignorance of lower classes

7.1.1. Barbosa's burning of all documentation related to slave trade may have affected American conceptions of Brazil

7.1.2. At war with Paraguay, used slaves as cannon fodder