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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAI, ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 12 



fazendeiros but neither yet possesses the requisite 

 characteristics to give him the status which ordi- 

 narily accrues to that position. A few scions of 

 families which once belonged to this class are still 

 to be found in the village and surrounding area, 

 but they live near the bare subsistence level and 

 their position in the community in no way is 

 superior to that of other residents. 



Regret for the reduced status of a family which 

 once belonged to the fazendeiro class is apparent 

 in the following remarks of a descendant of one 

 of these families : 



I should have done better in life. Our family wasn't 

 like these caipiras around here. They were gente fina 

 (refined people). I was once in school; but then I had 

 to go to work with a hoe and I forgot everything. I can't 

 even write now. The old gentleman, my uncle, he was a 

 man! You won't find another person like him. He 

 was full of courage. He was intelligent like no one else 

 and as strong as an ox. He lived to be 90 years old, and 

 when he died he stiU had two rows of good teeth. He 

 learned many things from his father. My unele was the 

 chefdo "' around here, the biggest fazendeiro anywhere 

 about. If this place needed something from the politicians, 

 he went to Sao Paulo and got it. He was once the presi- 

 dent of the AssembUia (state legislature). The men there 

 all had great respect for him. They were men whose 

 goatees were white;"' they knew what they were doing. 

 My uncle had all kinds of fine clothes, a cutaway, a top 

 hat, everything. When he needed to, he'd put on clothes 

 with the best of them. But he was a modest man and 

 went about his farm dressed like everybody else. He 

 finally lost everything he had, though, and when he died 

 all of us were left with nothing. No one today has in- 

 fluence like he had. No one here does anything like he did. 



There is little or no difference, so far as status 

 in concerned, between villagers and the inhabitants 

 of the surrounding area. In the village, the con- 

 centration of houses obviously is greater and con- 

 tacts between individuals consequently are in- 

 creased in number and intensity. A villager is thus 

 in perhaps a more advantageous position to develop 

 that modo de tratd os otro (way of getting along 

 with other persons) which is so admired in the 

 community. Villagers ordinarily are less shy and 

 reserved. Persons with as high a degree of prestige 

 as any villager, however, are to be found among 

 local farmers. 



Prestige attaches to the irasileiro (Brazilian) ; 

 foreigners of whatever origin tend to occupy a 

 position somewhat below that of the native-born. 



•" Augmentative of cheje (leader). 



»" That is, whose age implied wide experience and, conse- 

 quently, commanded respect. 



This condition, however, is effectively modified by ' 

 primary contacts and, in the event of marriage 

 into a local family, by familial relations, as well 

 as the personal characteristics of the individual. 

 There is also a readiness to accept all children 

 born in Brazil, of whatever parentage, on equal 

 terms with other Brazilians. In this connection, 

 a common statement is "£'Ze e brasileiro, ndo e? 

 (He is a Brazilian, isn't he?)" 



Status is little, if at all, determined by either 

 race or color. Among village leaders are persons 

 whose skin is quite dark and whose other physical 

 characteristics give indisputable evidence of 

 Indian or African ancestry. There are no pure, 

 or relatively pure, Negroes among village leaders, 

 but this is probably due, at least in large part, to 

 the fact that there are at present no blacks in the 

 community whose personal characteristics are 

 sufficiently superior to those of others to malce them 

 leaders. Memories of two Negroes, now deceased, 

 who appear to have once enjoyed a high degree of 

 prestige in the village, are still vivid. The present 

 leiloeiro ^" and one of the ca-pelaes ^-° are blacks, 

 each of whom is extensively admired and enjoys 

 a considerable measure of prestige. Of the 

 capeldoi a village leader, a white man, remarked : 



There is wm home Mo (a good man) ! He's a hard 

 worker. He's good to his wife and his children. He's 

 poor but he always manages to get together enough money 

 to keep from owing anyone. He goes to Mass. What 

 he says you can depend upon. Every word that comes 

 out of his mouth is always the truth. There is a good 

 man ! If everyone was like him, the world would be a 

 much better world. 



A primary determinant of status in the commu- 

 nity are the personal characteristics of the indi- 

 vidual. The characteristics most admired are 

 modesty, sincerity, willingness to work hard, and 

 consideration for other people. The possession 

 of one or more of these characteristics increases 

 prestige; its lack decreases prestige. To "con- 

 sider oneself superior to others," for example, 

 definitely lowers a person in the estimation of his 

 fellows. It is the greatest defect a local inhab- 

 itant can possess. 



In the case of a man, to be a "good hunter" or 

 "good at fishing" increases prestige. Speaking of 

 an individual who is widely respected and ad- 

 mired, a village official remarked, with a consid- 



»' See Division oJ Labor, p. 58. 

 "^ See Sacred Functionaries, p. 146. 



