Summary: The Importance Of Soccer In Brazil

In terms of culture, many have heard the term “melting pot” used to describe the United States. The reason the United States fits the description of such a term is simply because its colonization was fairly recent, and it was therefore an immigration destination for people from many nations. In other words, a melting pot is classified by diversity, and thus, countries other than the United States with young histories fit the description as well. Brazil perhaps fits this explanation of a melting pot the best because it is extremely diverse. It might not be obvious, but Brazilian culture is a conglomeration of many various histories, ethnicities, and traditions. It allows equality to be incorporated into the Brazilian lifestyle in a way

The cultural importance of soccer is essential to an understanding of the progression of cultural practices in Brazil and the formation of culture in Brazil today. In particular, soccer in Brazil has greatly broken down barriers of a racial stigma that still exists in many well-developed nations today. Franklin Foer discusses this importance in his essay “The Brazil Syndrome.” One of his first main notes is that soccer arrived in Brazil at just about the same time as emancipation in the country, in the late nineteenth century (Foer 41). The significance of this fact is not that soccer was something for every Brazilian to turn to at the time, but that there was a certain shame in the separation of white and black soccer players. The slaves were recently freed and became very intrigued by the sport, as did many of the elite white Brazilians. The elite Brazilians were very prejudiced but were quite undecided about allowing blacks onto their teams, especially considering the shame of slavery due to the recent emancipation. Regardless, African-Brazilians made it onto some soccer teams, whether they were allowed or they snuck on by hiding their skin color in some way. Eventually, the allowance of African-Brazilians onto soccer teams became a requirement for the teams to be successful, because the teams that were not mixed race were simply not good enough to compete with those that

An example of this is the art form capoeira. Capoeira is an African-Brazilian dance that can also be classified as a martial art and is usually supplemented with music. Interestingly, capoeira cannot be traced back to Africa; its roots lie in the Quilombos of northern Brazil. In his article “Capoeira, Let the game begin,” Lucio Viti explains, “Fueled by a burning desire for freedom, slaves fashioned rudimentary strikes to avoid capture and abuse from physical blows, whips and firearms” (40). Accordingly, capoeira began as a means of defense by groups of refugees who saw a potential need to defend themselves. As the need for self-defense disintegrated, the people found ways of entertaining themselves with these defense skills that they already knew. For example, in the early 1900s in Bahia, a state in the northeast of Brazil, the practice of capoeira evolved into a fight game. The game incorporated dance and music while maintaining the practicality of the defense skills that exist as part of capoeira. By the beginning of the twentieth century, the practice began to break apart into different forms, some more violent than others. One resulting form was the modern Brazilian capoeira. The initiation and progression of the art form capoeira is quite unique. The practice stems wholly from slavery in Brazil, without any influence of a previous African, native, or European practice. Slavery