Research/ Brazilian nightlife and more...
Door: Hilda Alberda
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Hilda
15 Januari 2006 | Brazilië, Recife
Hi you all!
Here I am again, in a tiny internet cafe with Brazilian music on the background and of course, airco! Because, it´s hot outside!!!
Let me start by telling you about my meeting with Scott. We had a really good talk and it is very nice to hear that he has been thinking about my research as well. He is really nice and a very usefull contact! He first wanted to know what my ideas were, before he told me his. So we discussed my research question, my research group and the field... We came down to two options: middle class or favela´s. My considerations were that I found the favela´s more intersting, but they are of course more dangerous. The situations are really different: women of the favela´s start working out of a lack of money/ because they need to. In middle class families there would be more of a carrier aspect for these women, which is more simmular to emancipation/ the Dutch situation. According to Scott, it would be (relatively) safe for me to enter the favela´s when I would use some of his contacts. These contacts are at the healthposts in favela´s. We talked about locations and there is one favela, which is called crap (I don´t remember the Portuguese word) which is not the most dangerous/ but also not the most safe favela. This favela is close to Rafael´s home (Catarina´s boyfriend) and Rafael seems to know some people there as well. When I enter the favela through these contacts, there will be a kind of safe atmosphere for me. People will know that I´m good, so they will respect me. Furthermore, we talked about focussing on a specif block/ area. By doing this I could really get to know a number of families with differen characteristics. Close contact will increase my safety and I will be able to study the households intensively. This was actually Scott´s idea, and I found it a very good idea. In this way I can hopefully make some comparissons between the different perceptions of men who´s wifes are either working or not. By studying the families I will not specifically mention my topic, but I will tell them I am doing research at household relations (which is actually true). Furthermore I will ask if Amanda or Catarina will help me out with the first interviews (or more), considering my Portuguese. The people in favela´s speak a kind of Portuguese that is even more difficult for me to understand...
So, that´s my research. Don´t be to shocked, prof. Scott is a very intelligent men who knows his way around and I am sure that he would not sent me into the favelas if it was to dangerous.
After my talk with Scott, Amanda and I went to Bar Kelly´s, which is close to my home. We met Alexandre there. There was a kind of celebration going on for first year students, so the place was crowded (which it always is on Fridays´s they say, even at 17.30h). The bar is actually a piece of land (which is full of holes and rocks) with a vence around it, bars and a stage. There were different forró (say voHo) bands playing and everyone was dancing forró... After some beers and Amanda explaining me some of the steps, I finally agreed to let one of Alexandre´s friends (Paulo) teach me how to dance forró. After a view tries, the singer of the band said something about a dancingcontest... The best dancers could win a cd. Paulo took me to the stage and told the singer that I was Dutch and having my first try learning forró... So, we won 2 cd´s ( I believe mostly because I did such a great effort...), at least everyone was really enthousiast about my dancing. So, my first introduction to forró, I am sure many will follow!
Yesterday I saw some more of Recife, including a shopping mall (huge) and a cinema! The movie is in English with Portugues subtitles, which is very usefull for my Portuguese! At night we all went to Catarina´s graduation party... cool! Everyone was really dressed up, suites en beautiful dresses! I managed to dress up, except for my shoes... I wore my flipflops, did not take my highheals to Brasil! The party was at really nice, pink, house. There were about 10 student that graduated and they could all invite 20 people. And, this is considered to be one of the smaller graduation parties... It started at about 22.00h, many pictures were taken, there was loud music and dancing, a lot of dancing! It was really cool to see everyone so excited! Dancing, having fun and drinking a lot... The party lasted till 5 am and it took another hour to get home, because especially Amanda and Catarina were waisted, they were really drunk! But, at 6 am I finally ended up at home, where the first people were already waking up, looking a bit surprised at my entrance! I actually menaged to sleep till 11am, thanks to the van in my room, otherwise it would have been to hot! Till now I did some washing and spent about 3 hours at the internet cafe... wow! This is the last thing I will do on the net today!
So, I had a good impression of Brazilian parties this weekend and this week I will probably start making my first visits to the favelas... I´ll keep you posted!
Tchau,
Hilda.
Here I am again, in a tiny internet cafe with Brazilian music on the background and of course, airco! Because, it´s hot outside!!!
Let me start by telling you about my meeting with Scott. We had a really good talk and it is very nice to hear that he has been thinking about my research as well. He is really nice and a very usefull contact! He first wanted to know what my ideas were, before he told me his. So we discussed my research question, my research group and the field... We came down to two options: middle class or favela´s. My considerations were that I found the favela´s more intersting, but they are of course more dangerous. The situations are really different: women of the favela´s start working out of a lack of money/ because they need to. In middle class families there would be more of a carrier aspect for these women, which is more simmular to emancipation/ the Dutch situation. According to Scott, it would be (relatively) safe for me to enter the favela´s when I would use some of his contacts. These contacts are at the healthposts in favela´s. We talked about locations and there is one favela, which is called crap (I don´t remember the Portuguese word) which is not the most dangerous/ but also not the most safe favela. This favela is close to Rafael´s home (Catarina´s boyfriend) and Rafael seems to know some people there as well. When I enter the favela through these contacts, there will be a kind of safe atmosphere for me. People will know that I´m good, so they will respect me. Furthermore, we talked about focussing on a specif block/ area. By doing this I could really get to know a number of families with differen characteristics. Close contact will increase my safety and I will be able to study the households intensively. This was actually Scott´s idea, and I found it a very good idea. In this way I can hopefully make some comparissons between the different perceptions of men who´s wifes are either working or not. By studying the families I will not specifically mention my topic, but I will tell them I am doing research at household relations (which is actually true). Furthermore I will ask if Amanda or Catarina will help me out with the first interviews (or more), considering my Portuguese. The people in favela´s speak a kind of Portuguese that is even more difficult for me to understand...
So, that´s my research. Don´t be to shocked, prof. Scott is a very intelligent men who knows his way around and I am sure that he would not sent me into the favelas if it was to dangerous.
After my talk with Scott, Amanda and I went to Bar Kelly´s, which is close to my home. We met Alexandre there. There was a kind of celebration going on for first year students, so the place was crowded (which it always is on Fridays´s they say, even at 17.30h). The bar is actually a piece of land (which is full of holes and rocks) with a vence around it, bars and a stage. There were different forró (say voHo) bands playing and everyone was dancing forró... After some beers and Amanda explaining me some of the steps, I finally agreed to let one of Alexandre´s friends (Paulo) teach me how to dance forró. After a view tries, the singer of the band said something about a dancingcontest... The best dancers could win a cd. Paulo took me to the stage and told the singer that I was Dutch and having my first try learning forró... So, we won 2 cd´s ( I believe mostly because I did such a great effort...), at least everyone was really enthousiast about my dancing. So, my first introduction to forró, I am sure many will follow!
Yesterday I saw some more of Recife, including a shopping mall (huge) and a cinema! The movie is in English with Portugues subtitles, which is very usefull for my Portuguese! At night we all went to Catarina´s graduation party... cool! Everyone was really dressed up, suites en beautiful dresses! I managed to dress up, except for my shoes... I wore my flipflops, did not take my highheals to Brasil! The party was at really nice, pink, house. There were about 10 student that graduated and they could all invite 20 people. And, this is considered to be one of the smaller graduation parties... It started at about 22.00h, many pictures were taken, there was loud music and dancing, a lot of dancing! It was really cool to see everyone so excited! Dancing, having fun and drinking a lot... The party lasted till 5 am and it took another hour to get home, because especially Amanda and Catarina were waisted, they were really drunk! But, at 6 am I finally ended up at home, where the first people were already waking up, looking a bit surprised at my entrance! I actually menaged to sleep till 11am, thanks to the van in my room, otherwise it would have been to hot! Till now I did some washing and spent about 3 hours at the internet cafe... wow! This is the last thing I will do on the net today!
So, I had a good impression of Brazilian parties this weekend and this week I will probably start making my first visits to the favelas... I´ll keep you posted!
Tchau,
Hilda.
