Laughter Out of Place

1. The author speaks of a women she refers to as "Gloria" in her ethnography

1.1. Gloria is an afrobrazilian woman working with many children to support on a low wage budget

1.1.1. New node

1.2. To support her family, like many other poor afrobrazilian women, she has been employed in the low wage domestic labor market as a sort of maid cooking, cleaning, and caring for white upper/middle class families

2. The author speaks about the unique relationships between the "empregada" (demestic worker) and the employer

2.1. On the one hand upper class employers view their domestic workers With a warm and friendly outlook, as they often become close in the sense that they share their concerns and the workers are emerged in the everyday lives if their workers.

2.1.1. New node

2.2. On the other hand their a clear divide between the worker and the employee. For example the workers know their place as to stay out of the living quarters such as the living room instead containing themselves to the laundry room, kitchen etc.

2.3. Many times, employers view their domestic workers as less intelligent and see them as intellectually icompident due to differences in language dialect and unfamiliarity with different technologies etc.

2.4. On the other hand their a clear divide between the worker and the employee. For example the workers know their place as to stay out of the living quarters such as the living room instead containing themselves to the laundry room, kitchen etc.

2.5. New node

3. Having domestic workers in Brazil is a status symbol.

3.1. Being a member of the middle class signifies not be a member of the serving class.

4. Many lower class makes turn to gangs and other violent sectors such as drug dealing as a source of respect and status

5. Goldstein explains that laughter is used as a sort of shield for those in the lower socioeconomic class. Situations that are seen as dire to those in the middle class are coped with by those in socioeconomic class with humor

6. Race and gender play a large role in the socioeconomic hierarchy in Brazilian culture.

6.1. Black "Afro-Brazilian" women make up the lower domestic in home workers

6.2. Relates back to slavery and the neocolonial ideas of "whitening" Brazil to make itself a recognized world power in the globalizing world system

6.3. "Gloria" was content with doing tasks For the white upper middle class family she worked for but did not feel it was ok to do the same tasks for the employers black daughter in law because she was "like her" demonstrates internalized racism and shows that she associated race with a class system, whites as upper class to be waited on and blacks as those in the lower class working for those upper class people.

6.4. In brazil those with lighter skin are "whiter" characteristics are believed 'to have better chances of succeeding in life, including greater job opportunities and even greater possibilities for leaving the poorest shantytowns' (p108)