This provocative ethnography is extremely timely. The current upsurge of antiracist activism on U.S. and Brazilian streets and also the availability of a rich repertoire of theoretical, and methodological, and ethical tools that anthropologists like Christen Smith strategically engage have set the stage for this compelling social analysis, which is situated where scholarship and activism intersect. In a remarkably sophisticated and creative way, the author brings street theater, carnival, state violence and social movements into a trenchant conversation on race, gender, class and the paradoxes of citizenship, as Black Brazilians embody and perform them in Salvador, Bahia. In this book Smith performs a powerful act of counter-storytelling at its best.
Faye V. Harrison, author of Outsider Within: Reworking Anthropology in a Global Age This book is an excellent one that should be of great use in a number of seminars, particularly to those that consider the predominance of violence in the genealogy of African diaspora communities, and in the contemporary lives of their members, in Brazil and elsewhere. It is an excellent demonstration of the importance of performance studies for socio-cultural anthropology.
Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology A compelling look at anti-black violence in contemporary Brazil. From the pelourinho to the forms of policing that followed emancipation, through to the military dictatorship and post-1989 processes of gentrification, Smith demonstrates in specific ways how violence against black bodies is foundational to the state. An exciting contribution to a number of fields.
Deborah A. Thomas, author of Exceptional Violence: Embodied Citizenship in Transnational Jamaica Afro-Paradise offers a much needed contribution to the field of black studies in the Americas. . . . Additionally, it expands the recent discussions unearthed by the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States, by addressing the unique context of race relations in Brazil.
Luso-Brazilian Review This book powerfully demonstrates that Bahia's exotic allure is in fact no afro-paradise. In a unique fusion of ethnography and textual analysis, the author reveals how in the 'land of happiness,' anti-black violence is pervasive and deadly. As the question of anti-black violence continues to emerge as the key political issue of our generation, Afro-Paradise brings a much needed global perspective to our discussions of anti-blackness and black survival.
Keisha-Khan Y. Perry, author of Black Women against the Land Grab: The Fight for Racial Justice in Brazil An impressive ethnography of racialized state violence in Brazil and the quotidian gestures to survive or counter its enduring push against black life. The writing is urgent, engaging, and exemplary in its focus and clarity.
The American Society for Theatre Research