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A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette in Brazil

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Customer Reviews (6)

Culture Shock! Brazil: A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette
I am Brazilian. This book describes Brazil very well, and the author did a very good job in all the topics he included. It has a good overview of religions, history of the country, Brazilian way of living, and so on. The only thing I would improve is the Portuguese language. There are several mistakes.Here are some corrections: Carro = car (and not carriage), Wine = vinho (not vino), Easter = páscoa (and not pascua), on top of = em cima de (and not encima de); because = porque, why = por que. Boa noite = can be either good evening or good night. The numbers 16, 17, 18 and 19 in Portuguese are dezesseis, dezessete, dezoito e dezenove. The expression "ter dor de cotovelo" (to have elbow pain) is applied to the following situation: A person (A) who is very envious or jealous of the person (B) for something that A wants, but does not have, and B has. It could be anything: a girlfriend, a house, a car, etc. In this case A is said to have "dor de cotovelo" related to the person B.
Well, I hope this helped.

Dr. Virginia Pearson
Cross-Cultural facilitator
Ph.D. in Cross-Cultural Psychology and International Management
GlobalAllianceUS@aol.com

good for people new to brazil.
i thought this would be a little more in depth.Its a good book for someone taking a first time trip there, or someone who goes there frequently but doesnt stay long enough to learn the basics of brazilian culture through experience.

Hit the nail on the head!
I recently visited Brazil with my wife who is originally from there.I am just a Gringoe, born and raised in New Jersey, USA.Throughout our stay I would constantly refer to the book to better understand the culture.I have to say that everything I had experienced was mentioned to the detail in this book.My Father-In-Law grew up there and even he was impressed.In fact, I think he even learned a thing or two about Brazil!!! I would definitely recommend this book to anyone traveling to Brazil who is not familiar.Tchau!!!

Culture Shock
Book is well prepared to get first glance of how really the culture is and how one should behave. As i got a lot of contacts with Brazilians before going to Brazil, reading this book just confirmed the ideas i have understood from them. The book didn't surprise me but it definitely taught more details and confirmed my understanding.

An essential read for those that are going to live in, or seek to understand Brazil.
I have read and reread this excellent ethonography.I read Culture Shock! Brazil before coming to Brazil, then again while traveling in Brazil. Volker Poelzl has done his homework.He has given readers brilliant profile of Brazil.This is no easy task, as Brazil is as large as the continental United States and equally as diverse.

Culture Shock! will give you everything that you need for a primer education on Brazil. It will specially be valuable to those who are coming to live for a while and for along with a travel guide like Frommer's (Strongly Recommended - see my review) will open the country up to you.I especially appreciatedhis sections on synergistic religions: Candomble, Kardecism, Umbanda, Shamanism, Feticaria (witchcraft) etc.Excellent.

Brazil is as dynamic as its Carnivals.It is also contradictory and contrasting, as seen in its wealth and poverty.The towering new high-rise buildings, that look down on the sprawling slums point to a country with the world's 12th largest economy, yet 1/3 of the peoplelive in abject poverty.Volker is not Pollyannaish in his writing about Brazil.He is critical of the antiquated social elitism, cronyism, corruption,police violence, gross injustice and dysfunctional socials systems that continues to foster the widespread poverty - "Brazil is a democracy.But what I see here is a wretched, sad situation where there is no justice." Yet, he also shows how the people of Brazil, in spite of poverty, have their family, friends, love, sexuality, music and dance.

NOTE: Volker Poelzl's guide should get a five star rating, BUT there is a serious flaw: the binding gives out after one use and the pages fall out. This shoddy workmanship is the responsibility of the publisher (Marshall Cavendish - Singapore).However, if you can hold it together with rubber bands, this is a valuable and 'Strongly Recommended' guide. ... Read more

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Caipira, in the common sense and prejudice, is the inhabitant of a precarious place, with a poor education and outdated customs. Brazilian researchers, however, claim that this portion of the population, often forgotten, is that resulted from the original miscegenation among whites, Indians and, later, blacks, especially in São Paulo (Brazil), whose rustic culture, even reinterpreted and transformed, remains an integral part of the national culture. Therefore, this research work, based on extensive collection of material and oral historical sources, aims to rescue the peasant way of life in Piracicaba, his culture and especially his linguistic variant, known for rustic dialect, bringing a contribution to the linguistic studies on Brazilian Portuguese, in addition to expanding the knowledge of history and popular culture of Brazil. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Encyclopedia of Religion, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 5544 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.The second edition of this highly regarded encyclopedia, preserving the best of the first edition's cross-cultural approach, while emphasizing religion's role within everyday life and as a unique experience from culture to culture, this new edition is the definitive work in the field for the 21st century. An international team of scholars and contributors have reviewed, revised and added to every word of the classic work, making it relevant to the questions and interests of all researchers. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History, 2nd ed., brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 1027 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.The Early Civilizations in the Americas Reference Library provides a comprehensive overview of the history of the regions of the American continents in which two of the world's first civilizations developed: Mesoamerica (the name for the lands in which ancient civilizations arose in Central America and Mexico) and the Andes Mountains region of South America (in present-day Peru and parts of Bolivia, northern Argentina, and Ecuador). In both regions, the history of civilization goes back thousands of years. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History, 2nd ed., brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 2610 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.The Early Civilizations in the Americas Reference Library provides a comprehensive overview of the history of the regions of the American continents in which two of the world's first civilizations developed: Mesoamerica (the name for the lands in which ancient civilizations arose in Central America and Mexico) and the Andes Mountains region of South America (in present-day Peru and parts of Bolivia, northern Argentina, and Ecuador). In both regions, the history of civilization goes back thousands of years. ... Read more

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Brazil's northeastern state of Bahia has built its economy around attracting international tourists to what is billed as the locus of Afro-Brazilian culture and the epicenter of Brazilian racial harmony. Yet this inclusive ideal has a complicated past. Chronicling the discourse among intellectuals and state officials during the period from the abolition of slavery in 1888 to the start of Brazil's military regime in 1964, Anadelia Romo uncovers how the state's nonwhite majority moved from being a source of embarrassment to being a critical component of Bahia's identity.

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For the many poor and working-class Northeastern Brazilians who have been displaced from their home region for economic reasons, the music of forró is a redemptive attempt at establishing an immanent relationship to history and community in the diaspora. The redemption explored in this book is multifaceted, including a desire to return home as part of a larger workforce in a sustainable economy, the desire to see the regions rich culture celebrated throughout Brazil, and to ensure that its traditional legacies are both preserved and further enriched through respectful innovation. The acute perceptiveness of forró musicians in portraying the diasporic experience of Northeastern Brazilians is elaborated in various chapters, including: one chapter focused on lyrical, musical, and collective representations or manifestations of diasporic nostalgia (saudade), another chapter analyzing the lyrico-musical representation of rural workers alienation from—and resistance to&mdashlife in the urban centers, and a third chapter which contextualizes forrós descriptions of the experiences of Brazils internal migrants, utilizing an array of testimonials and academic studies on the subject of interregional migration to reveal both the wisdom of forró lyricists and some of their blind spots. The study also includes a historical analysis of this Northeastern genres transformation from a rhythm called baião that symbolically represented the Northeast as a simple, coherent entity, to forró, a more allegorical representation with a greater appreciation for the class, gender, racial, and generational complexity of the region. The development of the genre, as well as the circulation of theory related to cultural production and identity, are contextualized in a global economy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Amazing insight into forro and its effects on Brazilian culture!
What an amazingly passionate and soundly researched account into forro music and Brazilian culture! It is extremely enlightening to examine the author's firsthand experience with forro music and its movement within Brazil. I can't wait to receive my copy! Wonderful work! ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Encyclopedia of Religion, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 2076 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.The second edition of this highly regarded encyclopedia, preserving the best of the first edition's cross-cultural approach, while emphasizing religion's role within everyday life and as a unique experience from culture to culture, this new edition is the definitive work in the field for the 21st century. An international team of scholars and contributors have reviewed, revised and added to every word of the classic work, making it relevant to the questions and interests of all researchers. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of Foods and Recipes of the World, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 1131 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Provides comprehensive coverage of the foods and recipes of approximately 75 cultural groups from more than 60 countries. Entries provide 10-15 recipes for each group and include data on the agriculture and dietary habits of each group as well as an overview of each group's nutrition and health. ... Read more