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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 12 



woods"). They usually refer to the inhabitants 

 of the city simply as gente da cidade (city people) , 

 although occasionally one also hears the term 

 cidaddos (citizens), with its original meaning of 

 "inhabitants of the city," being employed in this 

 connection. 



The term caipira is used in two different ways : 

 (1) as a descriptive term and (2) as a term of dis- 

 approval and even ridicule. Apparently it origi- 

 nally had merely a descriptive function. As such, 

 it referred to a rural inhabitant of the plateau area 

 of the State of Sao Paulo, in contrast to the cai- 

 ^ara, or rural inhabitant of the coastal shelf. 

 Racially, the caipira is of Indian and European 

 origin, mixed, in varying degrees, from area to 

 area, with the African. His culture varies some- 

 what from that of the larger cities, one of the 

 differences being the caipira dialect (see below). 

 This culture, however, has much in common with 

 that of other rural areas in the settled jjortion of 

 Brazil. In fact, some persons generalize the term 

 caipira to refer to any individual living anywhere 

 in Brazil outside the larger cities. Thus, to many 

 persons in the city of Sao Paulo, everyone in the 

 "interior" is a caipira. ("Interior" is here used in 

 somewhat the same sense as "up country" in New 

 York, or "down State" in Chicago.) Considered 

 the most caipira of all, however, would be the man 

 who works the land. 



The local alteration in the meaning of the term 

 api^arently accompanied the growth of the town of 

 Sao Paulo into a metropolis and the concomitant 

 development of group consciousness in the inhabi- 

 tants of the city. The term caipira has thus come 

 to symbolize the characteristics of the rural inhabi- 

 tants which, in the perception or imagination of 

 the man in the city, set the rural inhabitant off 

 from the '■'■cidaddo''' and help the latter to distin- 

 guish himself from the man in the country. Espe- 

 cially is this true among the descendants of those 

 caipiras who have moved to the city and who, like 

 so often occurs in the case of children and grand- 

 children of immigrants, are unconsciously seeking 

 means to demonstrate their solidarity with the new 

 group they have joined. In many cases in which 

 it is currently employed, the term consequently 

 has come to have a disparaging connotation and 

 to be used especially for showing disapproval or 

 in ridicule. The characteristics most often asso- 

 ciated with the term are simple-mindedness and 



naivete, linked with shyness and awkwardness in 

 unfamiliar situations; a lack of schooling and a 

 consequent persistence in the use of a dialect dif- 

 fering somewhat from the language of the city ; a 

 "low" standard of living; and certain personal 

 habits like the use of corn husks and "strong" 

 tobacco for cigarettes. 



In this sense, the term caipira is also applied to 

 persons actually living in the city whose behavior 

 recalls any of the above-mentioned characteristics. 

 It is esiDCcially used by "social climbers" when re- 

 ferring to persons to whom they feel superior. 



Supporting this conception is a caricature of the 

 caipira made some years ago by a popular Brazilian 

 writer, which to some extent has now become a 

 stereotype and tends to color the thinking of 

 many persons in the cities, especially those who 

 do not know caipiras at first hand. "A caipira is a 

 jeca," said a boy in the city, 12 years old, "that 

 funny Jeca Tatu of Monteiro Lobato, who doesn't 

 even wear shoes." "A caipira is a country bump- 

 kin who lives in a hut of sape" said a young woman 

 in the city. "He has no education, no ambition, 

 and no knowledge ; he is vmdernourished and sad. 

 He works just enough to keep alive. He is the 

 Jeca Tatu of Monteiro Lobato." "The word 

 caipira^'' said a young man in the city, "always 

 calls up for me the image of a man of the fields, 

 barefoot, unshaven, wearing an old hat, a cotton 

 shirt and trousers, and with a cigarette of corn 

 husks dangling from the corner of his mouth. A 

 jaerson very desconfiado.^°* A great believer in 

 his Santos ""^ and terribly superstitious." As such, 

 the caipira is at times ridiculed, at other times 

 sentimentalized, in vaudeville and on the radio. 



To the above-mentioned characteristics, how- 

 ever, the more thoughtful inhabitants of the city 

 add other characteristics also identified with the 

 caipira of which they and others approve : A pro- 

 found sense of hospitality, "kindness," a careful- 

 ness about "keeping one's word," and shrewdness 

 (Pires, n. d., pp. 5, 11). 



The two meanings of the term caipira are re- 

 vealed in the following statements made by stu- 

 dents of the social sciences, all living in the city of 



»«This word is difficult to translate. In this connection, it 

 sifrnifles an attitude of reserve toward strangers which is due to 

 a laclc of experience and of selt-eonfldence, as well as apprehen- 

 sion over possible slights or barm. 



"»" See Santos, p. 147. 



