Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Date of Degree

9-2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Program

Anthropology

Advisor

John Collins

Committee Members

Karen Strassler

Leo Coleman

Emilia Sanabria

Subject Categories

Social and Cultural Anthropology

Keywords

Brazil, Race, Semiotics, Beauty, Makeup, Aesthetics

Abstract

This dissertation is about the manipulation of appearances – of both the human body and the built environment – in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Focused on Afro-aesthetic makeup and tanning practices as well as urban renewal projects, this ethnographic study reveals how the making over of both the skin and the urban landscape shape social inequalities and contribute to productions of race, gender, and national belonging. While some of the aesthetic technologies examined herein may be characterized as “bottom up” – or as the self-fashioning tactics of marginalized Afro-Brazilians – others constitute “top down” infrastructural interventions led by the state and NGOs. The animating question of this ethnography, however, remains the same. That is, what might we learn about marginality when aesthetic practices are appreciated as organizing components of the social? Inspired by feminist, queer, and decolonial interventions that expanded social science by centering what was previously coded as marginal, “Living Color” places aesthetic questions at the center of social and political life in contemporary Brazil. And, rather than dismissing aesthetics as only epiphenomenal to social inequality, this dissertation shows how colorful surfaces serve as motors of political struggle.

Download

Share

COinS