the negro in bahia, brazil-a problem in method

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The Negro in Bahia, Brazil: A Problem in Method

Melville J. Herskovits

American Sociological Review, Vol. 8, No. 4. (Aug., 1943), pp. 394-404.

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THENEGRO

I N

BAHIA , BRAZIL

A PROB LEM I N METHOD

MELVILLE

J.

HERSKOVITS

Northwestern University

The descrip tion of Negro family l ife in Bah ia , Brazil, as given by

E.

F.

Frazier is reviewed. Th e disintegration of African pattern s held to haveresulted

from white contact,when analyzedin terms of aboriginaltribal family organiza-

tion, particularly with reference to underlying sanctions, is found to exist to a

very slight degree. The Afro-Bahian family manifests traits peculiar to i t , but

these are the results of accommodation to an acculturative situation, and are

not a sign of demoralization.

I.

UNDERt h e s ame t i t l e a s t h e f i r s t p a r t

o f t h e h ea di ng of t hi s p ap er , F ra zi er h a s

recen tly p resen ted a b rie f analysi s of Afro-

B a hi an f am il y s tr uc tu re , considerin g i ts

development , present form (or lackof form ),

and p robab le fu tu re. l Frazie r' s conclus ions ,

which h e te rms ten ta tive and which "shou ld

be t es ted by fu rt he r s tudy ," a re , b ri ef ly , a s

follows:

I )

"African p atte rns of fam ily life have

tended to disappear";

2 )

"Where theblack family has assumed an

ins ti tu tional character , i t has general ly

been among those elements

.

.

which

have assimilated Brazilian or Portuguese

culture";

3) ' 'Among thepoorer classes

. . thefamily,

often based upon a common-law relation-

ship, tends to assume the character of a

natural organization";

4) "Whatever hasbeenpreserved of African

culture

.

has become a p ar t of t he

folklore of the people and, so f ar a s

family relationships are concerned, there

a re no rigid, cons istent pat te rns of be-

havior that can be traced toAfrican cul-

ture."

I t is p roposed he re t o ana lyze t h ese con -

c lusions, d rawing on the resu l ts of research

in the samec i ty where Fraz ie r worked . Our

a na ly si s w ill b e made i n t e rms of a t hr ee -

fold app roach, t o b e ph ra sed i n t h e fo llow-

ingques t ions: W ha t a re the "African family

Anterican Sociological Review, Vol. VII

(Au-

gust 1942),pp. 465-478. The term "Afro-Bahian" is

an adaptation of "Afro-Brazilian," a designation

commonly used by Brazilianstudents of theNegro.

forms" and t h e "Afr ican pa t t e rn s of f ami ly

life" f rom w hich t he pre sen t-d ay Afro-

Bah ian f ami ly has evo lved? Wha t , i n t e rms

of th is b ac kg ro un d, a r e t he f orms of t he

Afro-Bah ianfamily as a t present const itu ted,

and , i n s im i la r t e rms , t h e s anc ti on s o f t hi s

ins t itu t ion? Wh at methodolog ica l p rob lems ,

asconcernsrelevance,competence,andeffec-

t iv eness of appl icat ion, a r is e f rom th e ana -

lysis of s imilari t ies an d differences between

F raz ie r' s s ke tch of t h e Af ro -Bahi an f ami ly

and tha t to be g iven hereF2

11.

T h e s t udy of Neg ro cu s tomhas wr i t-

t en an i n te re st ing chapt e r i n t h e h i s t o ry of

t h e m et ho do lo gy of social scie nce i n t h e

Uni ted S ta tes . For in th i s f ie ld , ana lys is of

cu l tu ra l s urviva ls h a s been ca rr ied on wi th

a lmos t complete d i sregard of the abor iginal

fo rms of b ehav io r wh ich a re va r ious ly he ld

t o h ave s urvi ved, d is app ea red o r c hang ed

f orm a s a r es ul t of c ont ac t w i th ma jo ri ty

p at te rn s. T h e d oc umen ta ti on of t hi s p he -

nom eno n, a n d a n an alysis of t he rea son s

why i t prevai ledhavebeengivenelsewhere,

a n d n e e d n o t h e r e b e r e ~ e a t e d . ~

'The materials incorporatedin this paper were

gatheredin 1941-42,duringafield trip to studythe

BrazilianNegro. This researchwas undertakenwith

thesupportofagrantfromtheRockefellerFounda-

tion.The field-workwas carriedon by Mrs. Hers-

kovitsand thewriter.I t is a pleasureto record my

indebtednesstoDr. JosC Valladares,Directorof the

Bahian StateMuseum,who gave so liberally

of

his

time in aiding this research,not onlyas interpreter,

but as friend and fellow-student.

'M.

J.

Herskovits,Th e M yt h of the Negro Past,

passim, but especiallypp. 54-61.



396

AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW

ture. Th e immediate family, consisting of a

man,hiswifeorwives,andtheirchildren,is

thefundam entalunit. Th isgroupinhabitsa

compound, a seriesof housessurrounded by

a wall or hedge . Each wife has a separa te

dwelling for herself and her chi ldren; the

husband has h is own s tructure , where the

wives live wi th h im in their a llotted turn ,

cooking his food, washing his clothes, and

o therwise min is te ring to h is needs . In the

na ture of the case, however, the sex ra tio

being what i t is, monogamous matings are

bynomeansrare.

Human re la tionsh ip s w ithin th e poly-

gynous household are of a quali ty that de-

rives from th e tensions inherent in th e

se tting . Mo ther and ch ild ren a re kn it b y

bonds fa r s tronge r t han those which join

father and children,even though descent in

these cul tures is in the pa terna l l ine ; one

shares one 's mother only with one 's "own"

brothers and sisters,but a father is claimed

by the children of all his wives. Each wife

therefore u ses a ll her ingenu ity to obta in

themost favorableposition forher own chil-

dren as against the children of her co-wives.

Evenwherepolygyny issanctioned,there-

fore , the life of the group is anything but

calm. Songs, bi t ter songs of "al lusion" are

on record a s sung by one w ife aga in st a

rival; in thelargehouseholdcliquesintrigue

one against the other when occasion arises.

"Onemustbesomethingof adiplomat," was

th e prescription of t he h ead of one such

household known for i ts smoothness of op-

eration; and in this case, l ife goes on with

no more f ric tion than in any rela tionship

where people a re in c lose and continuous

contact.

Typically, compounds are grouped in ac-

cordance wi th the descent of their heads ,

the compoundsof a seriesof brothersform-

ing what is technically called an "extended

family." Sometimes an unmarried younger

b ro ther will live in t he compound of h is

elder brother; on occasion,he continuesliv-

ingthereevenafterheismarried.Theoldest

these traits would bereinforced under contact with

European tradition. Cf., for example,

W. D.

Ham-

bley, "The Ovimbundu of Angola ," Field Museum

in line of descent f rom the founder i s the

head of thegroup; on his death, theson he

designates asheir takes overhis compound,

while the headship of the extended family

passestothenextyoungerbrothersurviving

the late chief. I n certain instances in

Dahomey , a t leas t, a woman may be head

of an extended family . Marriage types a re

numerous among this people, and a woman

who commands w ealth m ay "marry" an

eligible girl,permittinga male friend to co-

habi t wi th her, and c la iming, as " fa ther ,"

theoffspringof her "wife." In this case, the

descen t uni t goes no far ther t han the ex-

tended family , whose physical symbol of

uni ty and whole unique posit ion in society

i s marked by the ru le tha t , however large ,

i t must always inhabi t a single compound,

theheadship of whichisforever retained in

thefemale

line.?

A group of extended families constitutes

a sib or clan,and theunity of this descent-

groupisvalidated by itsmythologically con-

ceived ances try. The cult of t he dead, a s

operative in the role of the ancestors in in-

fluencing eve ryday life , must t hus be re-

garded and is actua lly so regarded by the

Africansthemselvesasthemechanismwhich,

more than any other singlecause, gives the

significant sanctions to social structures. A

man or woman desires many children so

that , a t death, the proper funeral r ites will

insurea proper place in the after-world. As

a single family grows t o be an extended

family, theplaceof the founderwill,through

eternity,be themore impo rtant; should the

g roup a tt ai n th e s ta tu re of a sib, h e may

look forward tobecoming a national, "pub-

lic" deity.

As in all societies where sib-organization

obta in s, t he role of the sib is to regula te

marriage. But , as has been indicated, mar-

riage is a n in stitu tion which ta ke s many

forms. If we refer again to Dahomey-the

problem hasnot been as intensively studied

Cf.M. J.Herskovits, "A Note onWomanM ar-

riage,"

Africa

Vol.

X

(1937), p p 225-341.

It

is

to this convention,rather than a rule of matril ineal

d escen t, t h a t t he i nher it ance of t h e Bah ian cul t-

centerin the matril ineal l inenoted by Frazier

is

to



397

HENEGRO I N

BARIA, BRAZIL

elsewhere , but there is ample evidence to

indicatethattheDahomeanpatterndoesnot

differwidelyfromthatprevalentinallWest

Africa-th irteen varian t fo rms of marr iage

a re recogn ized . These types fa ll into two

principal categories, a f ac t t ha t h a s im -

plicationsof considerableimportance forthe

analysisof Africanisms in NewWorld social

organization. I t thus merits a somewhat ex-

tended description:

Ac tual ly , t he se f orms may be rega rded a s

specialized sub-types of either oneor the other

of two principal forms of marr iage. . . . The

French-speaking native denominates these two

principal divisions of marriage types as "legiti-

mate" and "illegitimate." Th e real s ignif icance

of such c lass ifica tion, however , is revealed in

t he FBn t erms f o r t he ma rr iage type s which

occur most f requent ly in each category, those

in the f irst being called akwinzisi, "money-with

women ," a nd in t he second x dz~do "friend-

cus tody." The point of divergence, then, turns

on the f ac t tha t marr iages in the former cate-

gory carry an obligation for the bridegroom to

give to the fa ther of his wife those t radit ional

payments which , in tu rn , g ive h im control of

the chi ldrenborn of the marr iage; while in the

latt ercategorytheseobligationsarenot assumed

and , t hough t he child ren a re member s of t he

s ib of their fa ther , control over them remains

in the hands of their mother or of her

people.8

Thus i t is to be seen th at among this

West African folk, an d among otherswhere

analogousmarriagesystemsarefound,there

existsanentireseriesof matingswhereinthe

womanisfreetodetermine t h e courseof her

marr iage and i ts permanence . And among

these tribes , be i t noted, no demoralization

of socialpattern s exists!

Though the control of children rests in

thefatherormotherrespectively,inaccord-

ancewithwhetherornotthesanctionedpay-

mentsto thefamilyof thebridehavepassed,

th e affiliation of th e ch ild, a s f ar a s h is

spiritual being is concerned, is invariably to

his father 's l ine, s ince i t is from the father

thatachildinheritshissoul.Thisisnotonly

the case in patr il ineal societies; among the

Ashanti,where socio-economicposition isde-

termined by affiliation in the maternal line,

M.

J.

Herskovits Dahomey , Vol.I pp. 301-302.

along which incest prohibitions are drawn,

thesouldescendsfromfathertochild,some-

thing so importan t that i t g ives rise to

a

type of preferential mating.

Actually,inWest Africa-and, inalllike-

lihood, over a ll the continent-both parents

f igure prominent ly in shaping the des tiny

of the child.Th einstitutionalizedm anifesta-

tions of this point of view are merely ob-

jectifications o f a tt itudes that sometimes

t ake le ss overt fo rms. One of these is the

att i tude, in these societies where unilateral

descent is the rule, toward the "off" parent

and h is f amily-the pa ren t to whom one is

not socially related. Dahomey, again, offers

a good instanceof thisforthe area.Here, it

will be remembered, theentire"feel" of the

descent sys tem is patr il ineal; yet the re la-

t ionship between a person and his mother

and her family is extremely close.W here a

paternal uncle org randparent wouldpunish

if appealed to by a younger sib-matein dif-

f iculty , a mate rna l r elative w ill g ive a id ,

an dhelp to quietan embarrassing situation.

111. In the l ight of the foregoing sketch

ofWest African family structures and their

underlying sanctions, let us re-examine the

social organization of the Afro-Bahians to

see whe ther o r not th e p ic tu re of a lmost

complete d isorganization Frazier presents

canno t be reso lved into a se ries of recog-

nizable patterns of both form and sanction.

I t must be emphasized that what we seek

are Africanisms, without reference to their

degreeof pur ity; tha twe areconcernedwith

accommodations to a new setting; tha t our

a im is nei ther prescript ion nor predic tion ,

but the understandingof process under ac-

culturation.

I n the Brazilian scene, where all the

weighting of prestige goes to the modes of

behavior of thedom inant group,it isnatu ral

that the Afro-Bahians, a s fu ll c itizens of

their community, should respond to these

values a s do their fellows of E urop ean

descent. All theforce of church and state is

thrownbehindthem onogamousmatingsanc-

tionedby a marriageceremonyperformed in

the registry and, later , by the priest before

his altar . This is ref lected in speech-habits



398

AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW

whereby a legalwifeiscalled "Madame" as

againstthe "Senhora" that istheappellation

of any mature woman.

Especially among the darker segments of

thepopulationareparentsjealoustoachieve

marriage in the legal sense for their daugh-

ters . For even under the minimum of inter-

racial tension tha t existsin Brazil,the black

fo lk , a s many of them f rank ly will te ll a

l istener interested in problems of marriage,

feeltheym ust prove theirmorality interms

of ma jo ri ty values, and tha t t hey canno t

a fford even the l iber ties the mulat to may

take . Black g ir ls a re therefore believed to

be and, in suchcases as could be observed,

a ctu ally were unde r a surveillance more

strict than were lighter ones.

Thisfeelinggoessofarthat,i t isstated,

sexadventuresonthepa rt of ablack daugh-

ter may result in the father 's appeal to the

law and a forced marriage . Once marr ied,

w ith a ring on h er finger a nd r eputa tion

secure, events may proceed as the pair de-

termine.

If compatibility develops,the mar-

riage may endure, and on occasion does.

If

not,husband andwifeseparate,each freeto

enter intosuch new matingsa sinterest and

desire dictate.

T he patterns of these "regular" marriages

are those of them ajorityof thepopulation,

thoughtherearecertainsanctionsnotknown

to whites, and which the Afro-Bahian will

speak of only " to those who have under -

s tanding of such th ingsJ1-to quote h is fa-

voriteidiom.Referenceishadtothesesteps

which a ssure to t he Afro-Bahian tha t h is

marriage h as t he consent of t he African

dei ties-and the ances tors . These s teps a re

more commonly taken by the woman who,

interms of both European andA frican pat-

te rns. is the more concerned of the two in

the consummation and cont inuat ion of the

marriage.Tothisend,sheconsultsadiviner

to find out whether some other person

"blocks thepath," and if there is shown to

be such a one, E shu, th e gua rd ian of th e

c ross-roads, is invoked to clear t he way .

Some two weeks before the marriage takes

place, a secondofferingto this samedeity is

made and another tohismaster,Ogun,who

From a day to several weeks before the

marriage,acockwillbegiventotheegung-

for " th e ancestors must be fed." I n tr ue

African fashion they will be called, notified

of the impendingmarriage of their "child,"

asked to he lp the match prosper , and then

"sent away." If t he b ride is a widow, t he

egun of her d ead husband must b e fu lly

propitiated;thedivinerisvisitedtoascertain

the wishes of the dead and they are punc-

til iously fulfil led lest he jealously vent his

anger on the new spouse. As a part of this

complex, a mass for dead p ar en ts of th e

pair,if they arenot l iving,or evena grand-

parent, is offered and pilgrimages are made

to var ious specia l churches o n the Sunday

following the ceremony. But for one other

element, this completes the cycle of r itual.

Some t ime before themarriage, a month or

two weeks , the young man and woman, or

she a lone if he-is unable or unwilling to

accompanyhere,gotothecemeterytopray

to thesoulsof their parents, if thesea renot

living.I t isaskedthatthe y"workw ithGod"

for the happiness of the offspring, and to

ensure t he success of t he ven tu re . And a

month after themarriage, the couple return

to give thanks to the same spirits.

I t may be objectedthat all this is "folk-

lo re ," and has l it tle o r nothing to do with

the soc io logical rea li ty tha t is the family .

The very fact that matings areclassifiedas

"lega l" or "common-law" marr iages, how-

ever, ind icates tha t sanctions do figure in

settingupcategoriesandevaluatingfindings.

I n th e situ atio n w ith which we a re con-

cerned, a nd in o th er h'ew World Negro

groups, what is being s tudied are the sur-

v ivals of a non -European cul tu re in a

so-

c ie tv whose dominant trad it ions a re Euro-

pean in o rigin and cha racte r. Hence , i t is

critical, even where the overt institutionsof

the dominan t g roup p reva il, t o dete rmine

whether or not sanctions tha t der ive f rom

another cultural stream have been retained,

and the form which these take in the new

configuration.

AsconcernstheAfro-Bahianfamily,how-

The gun cultof the deadispracticed inNigeria

t od ay a s i t wa s when t h e A fricans b ro ught i t t o



T H E NEGRO I N BAHIA , BRAZ IL

3

ever, we may a sk whe th er, in a dd it io n t o

thenon-Europeansanctionsof thedom inant,

conventional European marr iage form d is-

cussed above , surviva ls of African f amily

typesininstitutionalizedformcannotbedis-

cerned. This quest ion may be investiga ted

in terms of possible retentions of the essen-

tial points of

M7estAfrican social structu re

outlined in the preceding section-patterns

of p olygyny , of sexual ind ependence of

women, and of therelationsbetween mother

and childrenasagainst thosebetween father

and chi ld ren. This , in tu rn , b rings us f ir st

of all to a considerationof sociala sagainst

lega lly sanct ioned types of mat ing , and to

theposition of the childreninterms of legal

an dsocialconceptionsof legitimacy.

InBahia,aselsewhereamongNeu.World

Negroes , ext ra -legal matings a re common,

andhave aspecialdesignationtodistinguish

them f rom legal unions, to which the word

"marr iage" is given.T hu s in H ait i , the sys-

temis termed pl a~ ag e; n Trinidad, a couple

who live together as in th is way are cal led

"keepers"; in Bahia, the inst itu tion termed

mancebia (co ncubinage ) in lite ra ry Por-

tuguese,islocallycalledbythebetterknown

word amds ia ( from which a r e der ived the

forms anzasiado , amasiada , app lied to the

man orwoman livingin thisrelationship). lo

As elsewhere, though it isheld in somewhat

less esteem than the regular marr iage form,

i t is far f rombeing an index of demoraliza-

tion.ll

If

anyth ing , i t s cont inuat ion can be

ascr ibed, here as elsewhere in Negro Amer-

i ca , t o economic fo rces , which have re in -

forced historical drives a nd tra ditio nal

derivations.12T he ama'sia mating is simple

1

This is presumably the type of mat ing Frazier

meanswhen hespeaks of a woman "living 'marital-

mente'

wi th a man.

"F raz ie r 's finding t ha t a "weaknes s of i ns ti tu -

t ional controls" exists for Bahian social structure is

not s t rengthenedwhen he tel ls us that only two out

of t he f o rt y women h e in te rv iewed wer e liv in g

casua lly wi th men, and they were ashamed of t he

fac t ; whil e " the women who were l iv ing 'mar it al -

men te ' w ith th eir 'h usb ands' exhibited t he s ame

p rid e as a w oman w ho h ad entered a civil o r a

church marriage" (p . 476,n. 19).

This fact isrecognizedby Frazier

:

"It appears

to arrange, solves theproblem of the desire

forpermanent relationship an d forchildren,

does a ll th is a t an economic level which is

w ith in t he re ach of those concerned, a nd

affordsaunionthathassocialsanction.

Th is last point is essential. -4sfar as the

Negroesareconcerned,matingsofthesekinds

a re marria ge s. I n many cases t hey l as t a

l ife- time.13I n other instances they take on

a less permanent charac ter , enduring for a

y ea r, two y ea rs , five y e ar s; t hen t he man

an dwomanpart tofindnewmates.

T h e formal investigation in to a yo ung

man 's o r young woman's background , per-

sonal and f amily r eputat ion , t ha t i s a r eq -

uisite to marriage inAfrica, understandably

is ab sen t in the anzdsia ma ting . Th i s may

occur where legal marria ge s a re c on tem-

plated, a nd is n ot too common even in

thesecases.If werecall theDahomeanmar-

riage f orm s of "free" matin g, which a re

o ften contracted wi thout paren ta l consent ,

it is a ppar en t t h a t th is t ra di ti on , a nd t h e

economicposition of the Afro-Bahian mom-

an,14 exp la in why "more than half of the

women" members of thefamiliesinterviewed

by Frazier, "met their m ates a t work,

casually o n t he s tre et, or a t variou s fes-

tivals." I n Bah ia , moreover, many o f t he

amdsiarelationshipsare enteredintobyper-

sonswhohadbeenlegallymarried,butwho

have l ef t t he ir w ives o r, more o ft en , t he ir

husbands. Divorce, in this Catholic sett ing,

is impo ss ib le ; t h e new union is t he re fo re

effected on t he level of fo lk -mating, a nd

bigamyavoided.

Afr ican pa t te rns of polygyny have by no

means d isappeared . Plura l marr iage is no t

calledbythisname,andtakessomeprobing

to uncover. The amds ia ma ting , however,

p rovides the mechanism which permi ts the

tradit ion to remain a l ivingone. Of course,

for a marr iedman to maintaina mistress is

which has grown up among the poorer c lasses be-

causeof the cost of a churchor civilmarriage."

13

Frazier' s material amply documents this , some

of t he couple s he s tudied hav ing been liv ing t o -

gether fifte en to twen ty yea rs , and hav ing r ea red

large families.

Cf.

M. and

F.

Herskovit s, "The Negroes of

Brazil," Yale

Review

Vol.X XX II (1943), p p 264-



400 AMERICAN SOCI(

LOGICAL REVIEW

nonovelty in theE uropean scene,nor must

i t be forgotten that under slavery a master

often had two families, one white and one

Negro , and that , in any event, h is female

slaveswere always accessible to him. These

are factorswhich have reinforced aboriginal

custom, which finds expression not only in

the case of men who have a legal wife and

two or three amasiadas, each with her chil-

d ren, bu t in those of men who visit more

than one amasiada in turn, a nd are not

legallymarried a tall.

Th e cornmon finding among New World

Negroes, t ha t ch ildren a re close r t o t he ir

mothers than to their fathers appl ies to the

Afro-Bahians, and is most clearly indicated

bythefactthatwhenaunionisbroken,the

children almost invariably go w ith th e

mother . So regular ly does this method of

disposing of chi ldren occur, and so recog-

nized is i t by thepeople as the proper pro-

cedure, tha t i t demonstrates the presence of

a l iving, functioning pattern which governs

t hi s par ti cu la r a spec t of soc ial behav io r.

Where the children belong in such casesis

notevenopentoquestion,andfewinstances

contrarytotherulewereencounteredamong

themanyobservedordiscussed.

I t is important to understand the role of

t he f ath er a nd th e a ttitu de s toward him .

Where broken homes represent a patholog-

ical phenomenon, and the children are re -

tained by themother, the father disappears

from thescene. Bu t in theA fro-Bahian con-

vention, the role of the father, most impor-

tantwhilethefamilyremainsintact,isoften

continued when he leaves . I t i s rare for a

mother to teach her chi ldren to ha te the ir

fatherevenwhenparentshavebecomebitter

enemies on par ting ; i t is held to be spi rit -

uallyharmful to thechild for her to impart

such an a tt itude . In the same way, though

she may s trongly resen t a man wi th whom

she lives having anothermate, her children

will not be permitted to qua rrel with t he

offspring of their father's other wife. Even

after separation, the children visit and may

hevisitedbytheirfather.

Ins tance a f te r in stance of th is was ob -

served,or cameoutinconversation, aswhen

mother don 't l ive together any more, but

I

go t o see him now and th en," o r when a

half -b ro ther and - sis te r wou ld come with

their common fa ther, amicably to d iscuss

their Afro-Bahian ways of l ife, or to record

the songs of t he ir African cu lt-groups. A

woman is expected to call in the husband

who nolonger liveswithher when his child

m erits a m ajor punishment; a m an cus-

tomarily provides clothing and contributes

toward the main tenance of h is ch ild by a

woman from whom he has separat ed ; and

woeto thechildwho speaksil l of his father

before his mother!

Most revealing of alla re the dutieswives

and children owe the spi rit of a dead hus-

bandandfather.Theegun,theghost,exacts

i tstribute in almost complete African fash-

ion. Though only a widow wears mourning,

and an amas iada does no t, a ll of a man 's

chi ldren, by no mat te r what women, must

wear ful l mourning. The o ldes t son of the

legally married wife, if there is one, or of

the oldest amasiada, becomes family head,

and must see to i t that thejunior members

do not want. There is none o ther than the

moral obligation to do th is , yet belief is

s t rongand, in any event, a manwould fear

hisfather'segun.

O fferings to th e dead man's soul ex-

presses the inner uni ty of the group which

had a common husband and fathe r. These

offeringsare given at the death-rites which

separate a member of an African religious

sect from his cul t-groups, and on the first ,

third, and seventhanniversary of his death.

On theseoccasionsall must contribute-the

wife,theamasiadas,theirchildren.Awoman

whohasremarriedor

rematedwill,if neces-

sa ry , ask h er new husband to a id h er in

amass ing the necessary sum; and he must

contribute for fear of the dead if he refuse.

Here there is no quarreling; all the women

and ch ild ren , under t he leadersh ip of the

m an's senior m ate or oldest son unite

amicab ly to see t h at th e d ea th -rite s, n ot

alone of the African cults, but in the form

of masses for the soulsof the dead,are ade-

quatelyprovidedfor.



T H E N EG RO I N

BAH IA , BRAZ IL 40

Afro-Bahian fami ly d rawn by Fraz ie r d if fer s

w id ely f rom t h a t s ke tc he d h ere. A n d th is

b ri ng s u s on ce mo r e t o t h e me thodo log ic al

~ r o b l e m a is ed a t t h e ou t s e t of t h i s d is cu s-

s ion. O n the bas is of cons iderable experience

among N e gr o g ro up s, it i s t o b e d ou bt ed

whe th e r t h e k i n d o f i nt er vi ew t ec hn ique h e

d es cr ib es a s h a vi ng b e en emp lo y ed i n h is

s tu d y c an y ield v er y s at is fa cto ry re su lts

whenappl i ed to these fo lk .T h e poin t i sbes t

d oc um e nt ed i n t erms of t h e v er y p erso ns

whose fami ly h i s tor i e s a re g iven by Fraz ie r .

Fo r in a c i ty th e s ize of Bahia , i t i s no t d i f -

ficult to recognizedesc riptionsof individuals,

even when t hey a r e t r e a t ed anonymous ly .

The case we a re to analyze is t ha t of th e

"big, black single woman" twenty- three years

old, a

fclha de santo

(cult init iate);15a seam-

stress; am ember of the Catholic church; living

in the family of her father 's nephew, who is a

strictdisciplinarian.Asfa rasitgoes,thischecks

with the f indings of this research, if the tota l

impression given by t he phrasing of t he de-

scription is disregarded. This ma tter of shading

is important ,as i s to be seen from the follow-

i ng ; our s ub je ct , a s has been sa id , is a cult-

in itia te , "but wen t regu larly t o the Catholic

chu rch" ; when , a s a young o rphan , she was

taken into the cult "she learned a few African

words, themeaning of which she hadno knowl-

edge." "She said shewasa virgin and observed

her

obrigago'es,

or certain ceremonies, in regard

t o foods and o ther r ite s connected w ith t he

CandomblC." F inal ly , "As to the fu ture, she

wantedtobemarriedintheCatholicchurchand

havechildrenif itwerethe willof God."

One of th e objec tiv es of t hi s research in

Bahia was the recording of Negro songs. Most

of the records weremade byteamswho became

familiar w ith t he technique employed, e ach

groupbeing composedof singersanddrummers,

usuallyconsistingof membersof asinglefamily.

One of these t eams was the family to which

this girl belongs.

I f there i s any other family in Bahia which,

on th e su rface , is more a ccu ltu rate d to Eu-

ropeanways of l ife, and at thesametimemore

devoted to Afr ican cul t-practices, i t would be

16

Frazier's acceptanceand use

of

the translation

"daughter in saintliness" is unfortunate; so is his

use of "father in saintliness"for pai de santo. This

latterterm, forinstance,is actuallya literaltransla-

tion of the Yoruban

babalorisha

("father of the

difficultto findit. T he husband and father, this

girl's father 's nephew, is a renowned drummer

atthecultrites,andhasbeenprincipalogan, or

male official, of one of themost orthodoxAfro-

Bahian cult-groups.H iswife, who dresses care-

fully in the European manner and never wears

the traditional Bahian Negro woman's costume

except in h er house, is herself a p rie ste ss;

though a t the t ime of Frazier 's vis it , she only

functionedas a diviner and curer, and had not

at tained this higher status. In thehouse of this

family are numerous shrines, all skilfully con-

cealed from casual visitors.

The "big, black singlewoman" plays her full

r61e in this scene. In singing for the recording

instrument,shewasthesoloist,sinceherknowl-

edge of cult-songs is wide and her voice good.

At one quite esoteric r ite w itnessed a t th is

house, she led t he singing as she d id a t t he

laboratory. Sheknows, and gavea l is t of, over

one hundred words and phrases in Nago, the

West African Yoruban tongue, and their trans-

l at ion; the words of a lmos t a ll t he dozens of

songs she recorded are in this language. Like

a ll members of the Afro-Bahian cults she is

a

good Catholic; but she is alreadypreparing for

her seventhanniversarycult-rites, whichare the

most elaborate an init iate must give, and after

which she becomes a senior cult-member. Our

subject does indeed wish to m arry "in the

Church" andhave children.B ut shehasanother

ambition. This is to become a

mcie pequena

in

a good cult-house; that is, she desires to be an

assistantpriestess. Sheisa modestyoungwom-

an ;

her god, she says, has not yet manifes ted

the knowledge or power to permit her to be a

future

mcie de santo

This example has been cons ide red a t some

l e ng t h, b e ca us e i t s o c le ar ly i ll us tr at es t h e

methodologica l def ic ienc ies of th e in terv iew

t ec hn ique a s empl oyed by F ra zi er . Th i s i s

e sp ec ia ll y t h e c as e when i t s u s e r i s h a nd i-

capped , a s in the s tu dy of New Wor ld Negro

g roups , b y t he a ccep tance of an hypo the s is

co nce rn in g t h e d isa pp ea ra nc e of A frica n

t r a it s wh ic h r e nde rs i t d ifficu lt f o r h im t o

d i s c e rn t hemwhen he comes on t hem, o r t o

e va lu ate th ei r im po rta nc e if h e d oes see

them.

On t h e b as is of t h e ma t e ri a ls i n t h e p r e -

ced ing sect ion , i t would seem t h a t F raz ie r' s

s t at emen t, "Af ri ca n p a t t er n s of f am i ly l if e

have t ended t o d i s appear " i s s ome th ing le ss



402 AMERICAK SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW

implied in Frazier's second conclusion cited

a t th e outset of th is p ape r overlooks th e

well-recognized process of syncret ism that

provides the means to reconcileAfrican and

Europ ean divergenciesin tradition.

Frazier's third conclusion is difficult to

under stand . What, in deed, makes of th e

Afro-Bahian family a " na tu ra l o rganiz a-

tion"?

In thevast major ity of cases , the father and

husband was a n a rtisa n earning a bout fifty

cent s per day who ren ted a house and a small

p lo t of land fo r h is f amily . In abou t a four th

of the fami lies , there were three children who

were cared forby their mothers duringthe day

whiletheirfatherswereatwork.

Aretheseitscharacteristics?Theuntenabil-

i ty of the hypothes is of the "weakness of

institutional controls" h as been demon-

strated in the preceding section. If onebut

knows where to look for these controls , or

how to analyzethem when one finds them,

th ey a re not difficult t o describe. I s th e

"natural family" indeed, tobe consideredas

onemanifestationof them?

Thefinalpoint,concerningtheabsenceof

"rigid, consistent pat terns of behavior that

can be tra ced to African cu ltu re" where

family relationships are concerned, involves

a concept of culture open to serious objec-

This rejoinder to Professor Herskovits ' cri ti -

cismof my article isw ritten simplybecausethe

factswhich I gathered

in

Brazil donot support

his conclusions. I t is not wri tten because, ashe

has s tated in h is Th e M yt h of the Negro Past

(p. 31 , I belong among those Negroes who

"accep t as a compliment t he t heory of a com-

plete break with A frica." I t is a m a tt er of

indifference to me personally whether there are

African survivalsinthe United States or Brazil.

Therefore,if therewerea"methodological blind

spot impor ted f rom the United States," i t was

due to my ignorance of Afr ican culture or my

lack of skill in observing it .How ever,it should

be poin ted out t ha t Pro fessor Herskov it s was

interested in discovering Africanisms and tha t I

was only in terested in African survivals so far

as t hey a ffected the o rgan ization and ad jus t-

tion. How ('rigid" is an y series of socialized

behavior p at te rn s? Have no t th e lessons

taught by years of studying social insti tu-

t ions in various cultures demonstrated that

variability inbehavior, rather than rigidity,

isthe rule?Is itpossibleth atF razier implies

t ha t t he customs of nonlitera te folk (Af-

ricans a re , from th is poin t of view to be

c lassed as "pr imi tives") , a re in the na ture

of th e outmoded condebt of th e cultu ra l

s t rai t- jacket? As far as the consistency of

the Afro-Bahian pa t te rns of fami ly life i s

concerned,itmustatleastberecognizedthat

they are consisten t enough to permit the ir

being outlined in them anner in which they

have been here.

If

one goes back over the

data in Frazier's paper i tself with this point

in mind , these same pa tterns can be found

either implicit in the materials, or explicitly

stated.

In the final analysis,we are dealing with

an acculturat ive s itua tion , and the past o f

the Afro-Bahians being what i t is , g reater

varia tion in any phase of custom i s t o be

looked for than in the indigenous cultures

ei therof Africa or Europe. But

in

studying

thissituationitmustneverbeforgottenthat

variationdoesnotmeandemoralization,and

tha t accommodation, inst itu tiona l no less

than psychological, is not prevented by the

fact of cultural syncretization.

I must emphasize here what

I

s t at ed in my

paper,namely,that thema jori tyof the families

that I studied represented all degrees of racial

mixturesinvolvingwhites,Negroes,andIndians.

The re fo re , when t he d esigna tion Neg ro was

used, itwas used in the sense in which we use

t he t e rm in t h e United S ta te s. I did not f ind

in Bahiaa nygroupof Negroes of pureblood or

blackswhowereisolatedfromwhite,yellow,and

brownpeople. I t ispossible,of course,that Pro-

fessorHerskovits found suchgroups and among

suchgroupsAfrican culturetraitswere appa rent

in their family l ife. I was careful to s tate that

my conclusionsshould be tested by fur ther re-

search. Bu t even if a llowance is made fo r t he

possibi li ty that Professor Herskovi ts s tudied a

d if fe rent g roup of Negroes , t here a re cert ain

phases of h is c ritic isms which cannot go un-



RE

JOI

NDER

403

I said a bout t h e woman who s ta te d t h at h er

g re at g ra ndmothe r was of Ewe-Mah in origin

is r ead in i ts contex t, h is r emarks abou t Go ld

Coast Negroesare irrelevant. Iknow aswell as

P ro fe sso r He rskov it s tha t Gold Coas t Negroes

werenot importedintoBrazil in largenumbers.

Myremarkwassimplythat themanner inwhich

t h e candomblC was i nher it ed m ight le ad one

to speculate upon the inf luence of Afr ican cul -

ture. Secondly, Iwouldl ike toemphasize that i t

was not my in tention to g ive a p ic ture of com-

plete family disorganization among the so-called

Negroes. As I under took to show in my ar t ic le ,

the family among these people d id not have an

inst itu tiona l characte r but grew out of assoc ia -

t ion of men andwomen in a re la t ionship which

was based upon personal inclinations and habit.

Although i t iscustomary form enand women to

init ia te family l ife insuchamanner, I foundno

evidence tha t their behaviorwas dueto African

c us toms . Wh it e men a nd women of t h e lower

classform exactly thesametypeof unions. This

behavior h as grown u p am ong lower class

Braziliansbecauseof certainsocialand economic

f ac to rs . A s s ta te d i n my a rt ic le , t he se p eople

speakof themselves as l iving together "marital-

mente " o r "marrie dly ." Fo r some re ason P ro -

fessorHerskovitsdoesnotseemtobeacquainted

wi th thi s t e rm. H e s t at e s tha t Imust be re fe r-

r ing to the rel at ionsh ip of "amas iado." M y in -

f o rman ts a s well a s p er sons a cqua in te d w i th

fami ly rel at ions among thi s g roup a ssu red me

tha t there was an important d if fe rence between

the two rel at ionships. The rel at ionship known

a s "amas iado" is more of a f ree love rela tion -

ship, whereas when people l ive "maritalmente"

their relat ionshipisregardedasconjugal. In the

f o rme r r el ati on sh ip a man may only v is it h is

"ambsia," but when am an l ives "maritalmente"

witha womanhel iveswithherandassumesthe

r espons ib il ity f or t he suppo rt of h er a nd h er

children. As stated in my article,these so-called

"common-law marr iages" (m y te rm) of ten grow

out of pregnancy orwhen am an hasdeflowered

agirl andheeithervoluntari lyorat thedemand

of h er p ar en ts mak es a h ome f or h er a nd as-

sumes the responsib il ity of a husband. In such

practicesonecanobserveth einfluence of Brazil-

ian culturewhich is intenselypatriarchal. More-

over,

I foundnoevidenceforProfessorHersko-

vits' statementthatblacksexercisemoresurveil-

lance ove r the sex behav io r of thei r daugh te rs

t han p er sons of l ighte r co lo r. The amoun t of

surveillanceisam atte rof class,them embers of

the upper and midd le c la sse s-b lack , b rown , o r

hav io r of thei r daughter s than members of the

lowerclass.

Professor Herskovitshas objected to t he case

which I c it ed a s an i llus trat ion of the manne r

in which the Afr ican heri tage has d isin tegra ted

andhas been lost . I n my ana lysis Imade clear

that whenm yinformant 's father tookfivewives

and bu il t houses fo r them, he was behav ing in

accordancewith his African heri tage. Bu t when

my informant f i rs thada chi ld in Afr ica (where

inc idental ly he l ea rned some of h is Yoruba in

a Mission school) and la te r in Braz il had about

twen ty chi ld ren a s the resul t of c asua l sex re-

la tions, the African heri tage had begun to d is-

i nt eg r at e a nd lo se i ts meaning. The ch ild ren

whose mothers were of diverse racial origin and

fo r whom no home was p rovided by the fa the r

had no o ppor tu ni ty t o t ak e over h is A fr ic an

heri tage. The sexbehaviorof my informan twas

obviously promiscuous; and certainly Professor

Herskovits would not say tha t promiscuous sex

behavior,exceptwhere itwas ritualisticallycon-

trolled,was anAfrican culture trai t . During his

residence in Brazil, my informant was becoming

aB razil ian, for when hegot married hemarried

in theCatholic churchandsett leddownasa re-

spectable Brazilian. I am n ot p re par ed t o s ay

howf armyinformant 's a t t i tudes towardsexand

ma ri ta l r el at ions wer e s ti ll influenced by h is

A fr ica n h erita ge b ut his o ve rt b eh av io r con-

formed to Brazilian standards.

Th e mob ility of th is i nf orman t p ro vid es a

good t ransit ion to what

I

have to say concern-

ing ano the r cla im which Professo r He rskov it s

makes c once rn ing t he p er si st ence of A fr ic an

t r a it s in the famil ie s of B razi lian Negroes . In

mypaper

I

showedthat thespouses in thefami-

lieswhich

Istudiedhadmetcasuallyat work, at

f es tiv als a nd ev en in t h e s tr ee t. To me th is

meant tha t the increasingmobi li ty of Braz il ian

life h ad caused m arriag e o r m ating t o b e a

f or tu it ou s af fair. Bu t ac co rd ing t o P rof es so r

Herskovi ts th is is an Afr ican culture heri tage!

Moreover , in regard to my asser tion tha t there

is no consis tentpa t te rn of marriage and mat ing

ProfessorH erskovitsoffers the objection tha t

I

havea mistaken notion of culture amongprimi-

t ivepeople; tha t infa ct primitivecu ltureshows

variations.

If

cu ltu re i s def ined a s pa tt e rns of

behavior there must be some consistencyinbe-

havior orotherwisebehavior is th eresult of the

f or tu it ou s o per atio n of impu lses. I n f ac t, i t

seems tha t P ro fe ssor He rskov it s rules ou t hu-

man impulses, spontaneousemotions, and senti-

men tsgeneratedthroughth eassociationof mem-



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The Negro in Bahia, Brazil: A Problem in Method



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[Footnotes]

1 The Negro Family in Bahia, Brazil

E. Franklin Frazier


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7A Note on 'Woman Marriage' in Dahomey


Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, Vol. 10, No. 3. (Jul., 1937), pp. 335-341.

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