Keynote
Seven things you need to know about images of slavery in Brazil

Lilia Schwarcz shows slide of Jean-Baptiste Debret’s painting (A Brazilian dinner, 1827), to the left, and of François Desire Roulin (Le diner à Ste. Marthe, 1823), to the right | © Taylla de Paula
In “Images of Afro-Atlantic Slavery: The Other of the Other,” Lilia Schwarcz deconstructs stereotypes created by representations permeated by European goals and standards.
1. The image that we have of slavery is constructed
Brazil was the last nation to abolish slavery in America, allowing artists and foreigners to document the African history in the Country with drawings, prints, paintings, and photos. These records were diffused throughout the world as portraits of the trajectory of African nations that were brought to the continent. “They are elements that carry European visual intentions in which artists reproduce a Colonial vision prone to being adapted to any place,” affirms Lilia Schwarcz. Repeated, copied, and applied to new contexts, these images reveal a politics of domination in portraying enslaved people: strong Africans, without shoes on, with little clothing, being disciplined, carrying heavy loads, following and serving their well-dressed masters.2. History was portrayed in such a way as to annihilate the slaves’ individuality
These works of art - many of which created by notorious names, such as Debret and Rugendas - keep details that are barely commented on but fundamental in the understanding of Brazil. “There was no space for individuality, rebellion, fugues, quilombos - these were rarely ever portrayed,” explains Schwarcz. “They are images that portray invisibility and anonymity,” she complements. In an almost maternal illustration of slavery, a relationship based on violence and affection is revealed, with individuals grouped in anonymity and with “nations reduced to biological blocks instead of the various peoples that comprise the diaspora.”3. The artistic interpretations of slavery perpetuate domination

4. Photography let the suffocated individuality slip

5. The reconciliation created with the abolition of slavery is a farce
With the abolition of slavery, new image patterns emerge, portraying reconciliation, forming the white European point of view: “slaves showed gratitude, as if liberty was not a right,” said Schwarcz. It also began the denouncing of the slavery system, of people being commercialized. On another hand, a condescending approach persisted, with blacks giving thanks for liberty. This process denies history, even in the movement of emancipation, creating a “national amnesia of slavery,” as affirms Schwarcz.6. The images of slavery repeat themselves in current events

7. It is necessary to politicize the images of slavery
Although veiled, the ghost of slavery is real in Brazil. “Contrary to what is perpetuated, the Country is a cultural cauldron without prejudices. We live in a racial democracy surrounded by racists everywhere,” stated Lilia Schwartz. The quota system in the university changed this scenery, but it is still a beginning. According to her, we need to politicize these images that do not live in the past, as culture is not a consequence or a product, but a production.Other words
- Lilia Schwarcz suggests a book, a film, and a song that illustrate the anthropologist and historian’s presentation
- The book “Beloved" (1987), by Toni Morrison: “It is a theme that is very dear to me, it shows how the present is full of the past and that these ghosts are more real than we imagine.”
- The film “Do the Right Thing”(1989), by Spike Lee: “This film caught my attention because it spoke to the difficulty of dialogue of the ethnicities and of how to tell these stories, without creating an exclusion.”
- The song “Parabolicamará,” by Gilberto Gil (recorded in 1991): “The world turns round, and temporalities are distinct.”
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