1. THE AESTHETICS OF DOMINATION: Class, Culture and the Lives of Domestic Workers
1.1. Intro
1.1.1. Preliminary Dialectical Interactions
1.1.1.1. Dona Beth would have liked to keep her daughter near her for as long as possible
1.1.1.2. Gloria would have liked to witness her children becoming independent
1.1.2. Linguistic elements of discrimination
1.1.2.1. “Boa Aparencia” or Good appearance
1.1.2.1.1. a disguised discriminatory phrase placed in job advertisements and meant to discourage dark-skinned people from applying
1.1.2.2. One of the most commonly mentioned characteristics of domestic workers is how they “talk differently”
1.1.2.3. Body language + other signs of social origin
1.1.2.3.1. Most middle-and-upper-class members of society admit being able to discern social class instantly by a person’s walk, style of dress, or simply an utterance
1.2. The Struggle to Earn a Living Wage
1.2.1. Faxineira = Heavy-duty day cleaner (cleaning, changing bedding, doing laundry)
1.2.1.1. Worked 14 or 15 hour days + spent 1 or 2 hours every day traveling to reach employer’s home
1.2.1.2. earning U$6/day
1.2.1.2.1. Gloria earned 5 minimium salaries per month
1.2.1.3. The faixineira becomes involved in the lives of the elites they work for + BUT + the employers know relatively little about the employers lives
1.2.2. Demographics of Brazil
1.2.2.1. There is not enough expansion of the formal sector to absorb the ever increasing lowest-paid workers
1.2.2.2. Social Markers
1.2.2.2.1. Brian Owensby
1.2.2.2.2. Social Philosophy
1.2.3. Poverty in Brazil and Rio de Janeiro
1.2.3.1. A Brief History
1.2.3.1.1. General Aspect
1.2.3.1.2. 1985 • Sao Paulo = 26% of the country’s manufacturing production • Rio = 7% of manufacturing production
1.2.3.1.3. 1988 Average household earning per capita were 22% higher in Sao Paulo than in Rio
1.2.3.1.4. 1976-1988real earnings in Rio fell by 29%
1.2.3.1.5. 1989, Rio had the most unequal distribution of income of any metropolitan area in Brazil
1.3. Class, Culture, and the Effects of Domination
1.3.1. Methodological Perspectives
1.3.1.1. Domestic service relations in Brazil have been analyzed from an economic standpoint
1.3.1.2. Research beyond the economic has often separated public from private domains of power relations
1.3.1.2.1. RESERVING the study of the POLITICAL to public spheres of powerIgnoring Subtle forms of domination (CRITICISM)
1.3.2. The Aesthetics of Racial Relations
1.3.2.1. Domestic work is synonym of dark skin, and dark skin with slavery, dirt, ugliness, and low social standing
1.3.3. Relations of Production
1.3.3.1. Discourse = The “naturalness” of domestic work and the inability of the economy to absorb the lower-class population in any other productive manner
1.3.3.1.1. Direct cause of exploitation and inequality
1.3.4. Power Relations
1.3.4.1. Reactionary
1.3.4.1.1. Gilberto Freyre
1.3.4.1.2. CRITICISM
1.3.4.1.3. Carl Degler
1.3.4.2. In Search of a Radical Response
1.3.4.2.1. Sandra Lauderdale Graham
1.3.4.2.2. Bourdieu
1.3.4.2.3. Sheriff
1.3.4.2.4. Scott
1.3.4.2.5. Hasenbalg and Silva
1.3.4.2.6. Stallybrass and White
1.3.4.3. Conservatives
1.3.4.3.1. Hanchard
2. An Architecture of Power
2.1. Practical Representations
2.1.1. James Holston
2.1.1.1. outlined the conventional organization of the Brazilian middle-class apartment as one that is divided into three functionally independent zones
2.1.1.1.1. 1-Social area
2.1.1.1.2. 2-Intimate area
2.1.1.1.3. 3-Service area
2.1.1.2. Brazilian architecture exhibited the unique characteristic of two completely independent circulatory systems: one for masters and one for servants
2.1.2. Oscar Niemeyer--the communist architect of Brasilia
2.1.2.1. altered spatial separations between masters and servants in significant ways
2.1.2.1.1. the final design created apartments with servant quarters and service elevators
2.2. Segregation of Architectural Forms
2.2.1. The division between service and public entrances to middle-and upper-class apartment buildings
2.2.1.1. Reinforces a sense of inferiority among the poor and working classes
2.2.2. The middle and upper-classes seem to have become obsessed with crime and the shrinking of public space
2.2.3. Elites’ conception of public space in Rio
2.2.3.1. Jeffrey Needell
2.2.3.1.1. Elite construct public spaces for themselves and for foreign tourist, diplomats and businessmen
2.2.4. The Haussmannist
2.2.4.1. urban planning that excluded the poor from public spaces
2.2.4.1.1. In Rio, the working classes, the Afro-Brazilians and shabby commerce were pushed into the Zona Norte or onto hillside favelas
2.2.4.1.2. giving the elite the Zona Sul with an easy access to a newly sanitized city center
2.3. Oppositional Culture
2.3.1. The Limitations of Academic Capital
2.3.1.1. The school system in Brazil is “classed"
2.3.1.1.1. with a public school system that functions poorly for the masses
2.3.1.1.2. Differing levels of private school education that cater the middle and upper classes
2.3.1.2. Education and class are highly associated
2.3.1.2.1. Jose Pastore
2.3.2. Resistance Strategy
2.3.2.1. There are signs of RESISTANCE and a growing BACKLASH against the relations of power associated with slavery
2.3.2.1.1. Hall
2.3.2.1.2. Philippe Bourgois
2.3.2.1.3. Paul Willis
2.3.2.2. It is an authentic response to domination BUT not a SOCIAL REVOLUTION
3. Politics
3.1. Color-Blind Erotic Democracy
3.1.1. Since the Colonial times, a strong period of slavery, an ideological discourse was developed to sustain a consistent form of domination perpetuated by the upper classes in Brazil
3.1.1.1. The treatment of and abuse of domestic workers were not regulated by the law
3.1.1.1.1. The Myth or Ideology of Racial Democracy
3.1.2. Brazilian National Identity
3.1.2.1. Brazil as a racial Democracy
3.1.2.1.1. led Brazilians to be self-perceived as a mixed-race nation, which became the essence of Brasilidade
3.1.2.1.2. Democracia Racial is a codification of race inscribed into aesthetic valuations of sexual attractiveness
3.2. Black Consciousness
3.2.1. Lack of Civil Rights Movement
3.2.1.1. Brazil did not developed a structure of legal supports to racism
3.2.1.1.1. Lack of codification + manifest in social rather than legal relations
3.2.2. Black movement has faced resource deprivation, racial hegemony, and culturalism
3.2.2.1. GELEDES = the Black Women’s Institute (Sao Paulo)
3.2.2.1.1. has experienced similar issues to those faced by the black consciousness movement
3.2.2.2. The black movement rejected whitening ideology and favored a “back-to-our-roots” orientation, ad adherence to negritude and a revalorization of African origins
3.2.3. The Movimiento Negro has attempted to bring attention to racial discrimination in Brazil
3.2.3.1. Promotes the positive aspect of Afro-Brazilian history and culture
3.3. Define Project Development Measurement
3.3.1. KPI's
4. Sexuality and Race in the building of a Nation
4.1. Brazil’s carnivalization of desire
4.1.1. Mulata Representation
4.1.1.1. Eroticized, exoticized and celebrated
4.1.1.2. the center of national ideology
4.1.1.2.1. The celebration of miscegenation
4.1.1.3. The Mulata is the positive sexualized product
4.1.1.3.1. Sexuality setting up the tone for national ideology
4.1.1.4. Angela Gilliam
4.1.1.4.1. writes about this mulata imagery in the context of an emerging global economy, summarizes the problem these representations create for poor Brazilian women
4.1.1.5. Sonia Maria Giacomini
4.1.1.5.1. The Cult of sensuality built up around the mulata has actually served as a justification for sexual attacks on black and mixed-race women
4.1.1.5.2. Mulata dancers develop a defensive dialogue about their sexuality so that they were not confused with prostitutes (perception of black or mixed-race female bodies with sexual availability)
4.1.1.6. Patricia Hill Collins
4.1.1.6.1. Describes 4 American stereotypes of black women that pathologize black women by linking them to specific forms of sexuality
4.1.2. End User requirements
4.1.3. Action points sign-off
4.2. The story of the Coroa
4.2.1. Define actions as necessary
4.2.1.1. 1- The way out of the favela is through seduction of a coroa
4.2.1.2. 2- The coroa desires his domestic servant and therefore is not racist
4.2.2. Hope among low-income women
4.2.2.1. A woman might be able to overcome her negatively valued dark skin or African characteristics by performing as a seductress
4.2.2.1.1. The Political Economy of Interracial Desire