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Best regards, Andrew Stewart - - - Subscribe to the Washington Babylon newsletter via https://washingtonbabylon.com/newsletter/ Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <h-rev...@lists.h-net.org> > Date: June 3, 2020 at 1:30:11 PM EDT > To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > Cc: H-Net Staff <revh...@mail.h-net.org> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Slavery]: Pasierowska on Aidoo, 'Slavery Unseen: > Sex, Power, and Violence in Brazilian History' > Reply-To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > > Lamonte Aidoo. Slavery Unseen: Sex, Power, and Violence in Brazilian > History. Latin America Otherwise Series. Durham Duke University > Press, 2018. 272 pp. $26.95 (paper), ISBN 978-0-8223-7129-8; $99.95 > (cloth), ISBN 978-0-8223-7116-8. > > Reviewed by Rachael Pasierowska (Rice University) > Published on H-Slavery (June, 2020) > Commissioned by Andrew J. Kettler > > Power and control are the central themes that drive Lamonte Aidoo's > captivating study, which explores the many multifaceted components of > sex from within Brazilian slavery. By employing a wide variety of > sources from travelers' narratives to legal records, _ Slavery > Unseen: Sex, Power, and Violence in Brazilian History_ argues that > interracial sex played a crucial role in the formation and evolution > of racial exceptionalism. Moreover, Aidoo purports that the practice > of sex between blacks and whites enabled a crossing--and at times > even erasure--of racial barriers, ultimately demonstrating how race > in Brazil could be and was in a constant state of movement and > transcendence. > > Through sex and its respective activities, both black and white, > slave and free, male and female, Brazilians created a complex milieu > that portrayed both free blacks and enslaved blacks as licentious and > dangerous personages. Aidoo shows how this image prevailed regardless > of whether blacks were the victims in such acts. Thus, we see how > sexual power allowed white men to retain a masculine identity, in > juxtaposition to black males who often found themselves stripped of > the stereotypical male identity through white exploitation. > > Furthermore, he illustrates how white slave mistresses might exploit > the bodies of black women through prostitution or even sexual > activities between mistress and slave in the private sphere. In so > doing, white slave mistresses attained a level of agency that was > often denied them in nineteenth-century Brazilian society, in > addition to economic profits resulting from slave prostitution. > Concluding with later twentieth-century depictions of the slave Xica > da Silva, Aidoo demonstrates how the legacy of slavery and the sexual > victimization in conjunction with the exploitation of black bodies > persisted for over a century following the abolition of Brazilian > slavery in 1888. Both a film and a later telenovela show the enslaved > Xica da Silva as a willing actor and participant in interracial > sexual intercourse with her master, which as a consequence masked the > brutal violence of rape. > > The extent of Aidoo's research is laudable and demonstrates the great > amount of work this project entailed: the primary source material is > extensive, comprising imagery, Inquisition records and trial scripts, > popular literature, medical literature, and travel narratives, among > others. Through reading these sources in conjunction with one another > we get a detailed depiction of sexual relations in Brazil in the > nineteenth century, which gives the reader an objective and nuanced > understanding of such rapports. By studying sources together, the > author is able to tease out the voices of the victims who were often > invisible actors and unable to resist the brutalities thrust upon > them. Regarding secondary sources, Aidoo exemplifies a great level of > familiarity with Brazilian scholarship, such as the work of Gilberto > Freyre, among others, and creates a study that is rich in sources and > engages with both primary and secondary literature in a way that is > consistent and praiseworthy. > > _Slavery Unseen_ goes beyond typical studies of power and sexual > violence by moving away from the quintessential master and enslaved > female dialectic. Thus, we learn about the sexual abuse of male > slaves, the complex relationships between Brazilian white mistresses > and enslaved women, sexual violence among blacks both slave and free, > and finally, homosexual intercourse between black males. Although the > author sets out that this study is not wholly comparative in nature, > _Slavery Unseen_ draws many parallels between the study of sexuality > and sexual relations among black and white people in the period of > slavery in the United States and calls for a more detailed reading of > these two great slave societies of the nineteenth century. Aidoo has > crafted a brilliant and engaging piece of research that will pave the > way for future studies of sexuality, power, and violence across the > transatlantic world. > > Citation: Rachael Pasierowska. Review of Aidoo, Lamonte, _Slavery > Unseen: Sex, Power, and Violence in Brazilian History_. H-Slavery, > H-Net Reviews. June, 2020. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=54617 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
