Barack Obama is Brazilian

This book examines US President Barack Obama's characterizations in the Brazilian media, with a specific focus on political cartoons and internet memes. Brazilians celebrate their country as a racial democracy; thus the US works as its nemesis. The rise of a black president to the office of the most prominent country in the global, political, and economic landscape led some analysts to postulate that the US was living in a post-racial era. President Obama's election also had a tremendous impact on the imaginary of the African Diaspora, and this volume investigates how the election of the first black US president complicates Brazilians' own racial discourses. By focusing on three eventsBarack Obama's election in 2008, his visit to Brazil in March 2011, and the aftermath of the US espionage on the Brazilian government in 2013Emanuelle K. F. Oliveira-Monte analyzes Barack Obama's shifting portrayals that confirm and challenge Brazilian racial conceptions projected upon his figure.

Underlines the tremendous impact Obama's election to the US presidency had on the collective unconscious of the African Diaspora Investigates what Obama's victory meant to Brazil Examines white male privilege in the US and Brazil and further conjectures about the possibility of the election of a black president committed to Afro-Brazilians and disfranchised segments of society Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Autorentext

Emanuelle K. F. Oliveira-Monte is Associate Professor of Luso-Brazilian and Afro-Brazilian Literature in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Vanderbilt University, USA.

Inhalt

1. Introduction.- 2. Obama Dreams of Brazil: A Mulatto in the Land of Racial Democracy.- 3. Barack Obama Is Brazilian.- 4. Obama and Dilma In Love: Race and Gender In the Realm of Political Humor.- 5. Our Candidate Obama: Barack Obama In the Brazilian Elections.- 6. Conclusion.