Sam J. Miller

Manuel Raimundo Querino (1851-1923) - The first Afro Brazilian Historian

“Here it was the work of blacks that sustained the nobility and prosperity of Brazil for centuries, without fail; it was as a result of their work that we have scientific institutions, letters, arts, commerce, industry, etc. Therefore, they have played an outstanding role as a factor in Brazilian civilization.”

ln a racial climate that was at best condescending and at worst genocidal toward blacks, Manuel Querino helped pioneer the study of the Afro-Brazilians and their culture.

The importance of his pioneering efforts in the study of Afro-Brazilian culture can only be understood in the perspective of the environment of pseudoscientific racism in which all intellectuals lived in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Brazil.

By recognizing the contributions of Africans and their descendants to Brazil’s national identity and culture, even a Brazilian “race,” Querino displayed phenomenal independence of scholarship and mind. He defied the influence of European pseudoscientific racism in a country whose economy was partially based on racial slavery until 1888. Like most Brazilian intellectuals, Querino was seeking to provide a scientific or historical basis for a founding myth of Brazilian nationality and culture: in searching for the characteristic that gave their country and people their unique identity, he chose the fait accompli and undeniable fact of widespread cultural and biological miscegenation.

Source: http://manuelquerino.blogspot.com/

http://brazilianmusic.com/aabc/quer.html

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Jun. '13

Amazing interview with Nalo Hopkinson in The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy | Lightspeed Magazine

18

Jun. '13

barricadeponine:

my parents definitely did not raise me to be a queer feminist filled with the wrath of a thousand enraged dragons and yet here i am

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Jun. '13

i cant count the number of times i have viscerally wanted to attack deform n maim the language that i waz taught to hate myself in/ the language that perpetuates the notions that cause pain to every black child as he/ she learns to speak of the world & the “self.” yes/ being an afro-american writer is something to be self-conscious abt/ & yes/ in order to think n communicate the thoughts n feelings i want to think n communicate/ i haveta fix my tool to my needs/ i have to take it apart to the bone/ so that the malignancies/ fall away/ leaving us space to literally create our own image.

—Ntozake Shange, “Unrecovered Losses” (via loneberry)

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Jun. '13

thefinalimage:

The Last Thing You See: A Final Shot Montage (by Plot Point Productions)

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Jun. '13

Joyce Carol Oates turned 75 years old yesterday, and she’s now writing some of the best fiction of her career.

—A Virtuoso at Work by Kevin Frazier (via millionsmillions)

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Jun. '13

adidasfactory:

She waited 9 months for her moment

BECAUSE SHIBA INU.

epic-humor:

Things You Need To Know Before Your Next Job Interview

I hate the”Tell me about yourself” question or the “Why should we hire you” question. Make a list of strength and weaknesses. Even before that, KNOW your strength and weaknesses.

(Source: nevver)

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Jun. '13

GIF of Samus getting mapped in Zero Mission.