{"product_id":"hotel-tropico-brazil-and-the-challenge-of-african-decolonization-1950-1980-paperback","title":"Hotel Trópico: Brazil and the Challenge of African Decolonization, 1950-1980 - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eJerry Dávila\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the wake of African decolonization, Brazil attempted to forge connections with newly independent countries. In the early 1960s it launched an effort to establish diplomatic ties with Africa; in the 1970s it undertook trade campaigns to open African markets to Brazilian technology. \u003ci\u003eHotel Tr pico\u003c\/i\u003e reveals the perceptions, particularly regarding race, of the diplomats and intellectuals who traveled to Africa on Brazil's behalf. Jerry D vila analyzes how their actions were shaped by ideas of Brazil as an emerging world power, ready to expand its sphere of influence; of Africa as the natural place to assert that influence, given its historical slave-trade ties to Brazil; and of twentieth-century Brazil as a \"racial democracy,\" a uniquely harmonious mix of races and cultures. While the experiences of Brazilian policymakers and diplomats in Africa reflected the logic of racial democracy, they also exposed ruptures in this interpretation of Brazilian identity. Did Brazil share a \"lusotropical\" identity with Portugal and its African colonies, so that it was bound to support Portuguese colonialism at the expense of Brazil's ties with African nations? Or was Brazil a country of \"Africans of every color,\" compelled to support decolonization in its role as a natural leader in the South Atlantic? Drawing on interviews with retired Brazilian diplomats and intellectuals, D vila shows the Brazilian belief in racial democracy to be about not only race but also Portuguese ethnicity.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eBack Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eHotel Tropico\" is a superb book. It takes on broad themes such as race and imperialism, modifies much of the current knowledge about Brazil's dictatorship, and suggests a reevaluation of that form of government in Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. \"Hotel Tropico\" will be read not only by scholars of Brazil and Latin America but also by those studying Africa, empire, and postcolonialism.\"--Jeffrey Lesser, author of \"A Discontented Diaspora: Japanese Brazilians and the Meanings of Ethnic Militancy, 1960-1980\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJerry Dávila is Professor of History at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eDiploma of Whiteness: Race and Social Policy in Brazil, 1917-1945\u003c\/i\u003e, also published by Duke University Press.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 328\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.82 x 9 x 6.16 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIllustrated:\u003c\/strong\u003e Yes\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e August 03, 2010\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43588119494692,"sku":"9780822348559","price":56.63,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/tobieshouse.com\/products\/hotel-tropico-brazil-and-the-challenge-of-african-decolonization-1950-1980-paperback","provider":"Tobies House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}