Three “Historical Walks” through Latin America’s largest country
Marking the anniversary of Brazil’s declaration of independence on 7 September 1822, and ahead of the country’s elections in October, “Historical Walks” travels to Latin America’s largest country, exploring it beyond the familiar stereotypes of samba, Carnival, and soccer.
A historical and musical journey through a country that is a mosaic of cultures, immense wealth and extreme poverty, tolerance and structural racism, and deep social inequality.
Part 1: “The making of a nation”
From Brazil’s Indigenous peoples and the Portuguese conquest of 1500 to the forced transportation of millions of enslaved Africans, independence, and the major waves of immigration: How did Brazil emerge as a multiracial and multicultural nation?
Part 2: “A vast country of stark contrasts”
Racism and “whitening,” unimaginable wealth and favelas, social inequality, and the status of women. To what extent do the different social classes live within their own “bubbles”? Why have such extreme inequalities not provoked greater social resistance and demands for change? And how much did the country change under Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva?
Part 3: “Is there hope for the Land of the Future?”
In 1941, Austrian Jewish author Stefan Zweig called Brazil the “Land of the Future.” As Europe descended into Nazism and war, Zweig saw in Brazil’s wealth and multicultural character the promise of a better world. Eighty-five years later, as the country heads to the polls in October, the question remains: Will that future ever arrive?
The program’s guests are constitutional law expert Dimitris Dimoulis, professor at the FGV Law School in São Paulo, and Brazilian scholar Soraya Gasparetto Lunardi, professor of Constitutional Law and Fundamental Rights at UNESP, São Paulo State University.
Produced and presented by Marilena Katsimi
Broadcast:
Saturday 12 September, at 13:00 Athens time: Part 1
Saturday 19 September, at 13:00 Athens time: Part 2
Saturday 26 September, at 13:00 Athens time: Part 3
