PLACA's Brown Bag Series presents: Cory J. LaFevers

"The Interaction of Music and Black Movements in Recife, Pernambuco Brazil." Presented by: Cory J. LaFevers; MA Candidate, Pan African Studies. Since the resurgence of Afro-Brazilian social movements (movimentos negros) in the late 1970s, these movements have maintained close ties with numerous Afro-Brazilian cultural manifestations, including music. I traveled to Recife this past summer to explore this relationship further, i.e. To what extent and in what ways does music— specifically Afro-Diasporic music— address and articulate the issue of social justice for Afro-Brazilians in Recife/Olinda, Pernambuco, Brazil? Recife, the largest city and cultural capitol of the state of Pernambuco, has both historical and contemporary significance within the Brazil’s Black movements, yet oddly enough, has been largely ignored within the scholarly literature— especially in English. This paper presents my research project: My initial questions, how the research evolved during the fieldwork, and initial observations, issues, and problems which require further analysis and interpretation.