The Once and Future Country?

When I did my master’s thesis some ten years ago, I remember being fascinated by a book by Marhall Eakin called “Brazil- the Once and Future Country” from 1998. In this book the author is giving a 260-pages overview over Brazilian culture, politics, history, economics and everything else that one should know about Brazil. I do not remember so much of the more detailed contents of the book, but still remember the story behind the title. By referring to Brazil as the ‘once and future country’, Eakin is referring to the never-vanishing hope that one day Brazil will make it, that one day they will overcome their problems and leave the troubles of the past behind. The only problem was that this day was always to be in some near but still unattainable future. Meanwhile the past was always influencing the presence, making it difficult for that bright and shining tomorrow to appear.

Now, how does that look like today? Of course we are seeing things in Brazil now that have not been seen before. Financial stability, democracy as the natural way of dividing power, ability to maintain more control over their natural resources and diminishing poverty in most parts of the country to give some examples.

On the other hand I do clearly recognize Brazil as I remember it when I first visited the country more than 15 years ago. In spite of the big changes on macro-structure, principles and moral codes of interaction are still the same, relationships are important, the jeitinho is still a cultural imperative in daily life interaction, the double-standard attitude towards racism still prevails and gender issues is an important aspect of Brazilian society. Inequality and generosity walks hand in hand, as does violence and sensuality, lamentation and witty irony, suspicion and friendliness, all examples of paradoxes that make Brazil Brazilian.  

What do we make of this? I believe that we must bear in mind that the “tomorrow” in Brazil will also be Brazilian. In understanding Brazil, we should remember the past, its paradoxes, its uniqueness. To grasp the nature of the economic and political changes the last decades, one must frame these quantitative qualities in its socio-cultural qualitative context. Failing to see this, will lead us to the misleading notion of perceiving Brazil as a nation that never really make it as a “modern” nation.

Returning to the books. I have started reading the newly released book “Brazil on the Rise- The Story of a Country Transformed” by the New York Times reporter Larry Rother (2012). After having completed 1/3 of the book, a big part of it has been about carnival, soccer, beaches, gender, race, corruption, inequlity, jeitinhos- all issues that have been present in description of Brazil for the last 50 years. And I agree with the author, these are still essential aspects of the modern Brazil.