Bate-Papo Lecture Series: Raízes do Samba: Race. Class, Culture, and the Search for Brazil’s Origins

Marc A. Hertzman, Columbia University. Widely celebrated as Brazil's "national rhythm," samba has long attracted the attention of scholars intent on tracing the music's roots (raízes). The search for those roots has, in turn, shaped and been shaped by larger discussions and debates about Brazilianness and the nation's racial origins. This talk will explore these discussions and debates and suggest what the endless quest to trace and claim samba's roots can tell us about race relations and nation-building in post-Abolition Brazil. Hertzman is Assistant Professor of Latin American & Iberian Cultures at Columbia University. He was trained as a historian of Brazil, but has broad research and teaching interests which stretch across multiple disciplines, Latin America, and the African Diaspora.