Abstract
Humour was used as a weapon in Brazilian art during the military dictatorship (1964–1985) and today it continues to encourage social awareness and anonymous cultural participation that challenges government practices. Tracing the legacy and ongoing impact of humour in Brazilian art, Carvalho argues that shifts in artistic practices (particularly in relation to the archive) have continued to play a subversive role in a time of political unrest. Drawing discussion around the work of artists Cildo Meireles, Artur Barrio, Paulo Bruscky, Cao Guimarães, Regina Silveira and Adriana Varella, Carvalho assesses how and why humour has recently been used as a weapon against former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, as an intervention against political corruption, and as a form of protest against the erosion of LGBTQIA+ and indigenous rights.
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Notes
- 1.
The concept of cannibalisation or anthropophagy goes back to the work of Brazilian poet Oswald de Andrade, and his use of the metaphor to rethink the true identity of Brazil in its connection to its indigenous influences (Tupi-Guarany tribes used to cannibalise their enemies as ways to absorb their power into their own tribes). For Andrade, this was also a strategy against the local bourgeoisie to sustain cultural values imported from Europe in a country with a vast majority of poor, illiterate and diverse cultures.
- 2.
According to a 2001 study published in the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology at California State University, Fresno, in which large cities of 23 countries participated, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, had the highest percentage of Overall Hel** Index by community to bystanders in need. The study indicated that although there were various theories and perspectives such as population size, economic indicator, cultural values, walking speed and individualism, the results of their findings pointed to shortcomings in empirical assessments derived from previous studies. (Robert V. Levine, Ara Norenzayan, and Karen Philbrick, Cross-Cultural Differences in Hel** Strangers, p. 544.) However, the data seems to confirm an earlier research by Pearce and Amato, also providing some indicators supporting the notion that hel** rates are more possible in communities that are measured by ‘everyday favors rather than hel** rates in life-threatening situations’ (Ibid p. 554). The study concluded that the average percentage of help offered by pedestrians was as high as 93% in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and as low as 40% in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. New York City, in the United States, known stereotypically as an unfriendly place, came in a close second to last in this sample, with average of 45%. The study also showed that Latin American and Hispanic cultures had more amiable social qualities that prompted local communities to help strangers (Ibid. p. 555).
- 3.
What makes this activity perhaps tragically humorous is the predicament where indiscriminate violence is exploited by the media, with a spread of corrupt policing under the aegis of recent governments. For example, the Bolsonaro government actively raised military police salaries underscoring the existing broken system of social protection in the country (Temóteo 2020).
Abbreviations
- ADM:
-
Archer-Daniels-Midland Company
- AMAGGI:
-
Amaggi Group
- BASF:
-
From FASF SE
- BR$:
-
Brazil Real Currency
- BUNGE:
-
American agrobusiness and food company
- CARGILL:
-
American privately held global food corporation
- EVA:
-
Ethylene-vinyl acetate
- GNP:
-
Gross National Income
- JBS:
-
JBS USA Holdings, Inc. American food processing company and an owned subsidiary of JBS S.A., a Brazilian company that is the world’s largest processor of fresh beef and pork
- LGTBQIA+:
-
Lesbian, Gay, Transgender, Bisexual, Queer, Intersex, Asexual
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Temóteo, Antonio. UOL Notícias (July 6, 2020), https://economia.uol.com.br/noticias/redacao/2020/07/06/militar-inss-servidor-gasto-rombo-renda.htm
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Carvalho, D. (2023). Art as Archive: Subversive Humour and Authenticity in Brazilian Art. In: Lionis, C. (eds) Comedy in Crises. Palgrave Studies in Comedy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-18961-6_12
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