Jerry Dávila . Hotel Trópico: Brazil and the Challenge of African Decolonization, 1950–1980 . Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press. 2010. Pp. xi, 312. Cloth $84.95, paper $23.95.

Abstract

Jerry Dávila's book offers a gripping historical account of Brazilian diplomatic and economic overtures toward Africa between the 1950s and 1980s. This was a period of political transformation in Brazil, ranging from a brief succession of center-left democratically elected governments to a lengthy military regime comprised of moderate to extreme right-wing autocratic presidencies. It was also a time of rapid modernization and massive economic growth that propelled Brazil's emergence as a major geopolitical power in the south Atlantic. Dávila's study is based on the memoirs and oral histories of diplomats who were protagonists in the expansion of Brazil's ties to the African continent. He also conducted extensive research in newspaper archives, the Portuguese foreign ministry archive in Lisbon, and the Itamaraty (Brazilian foreign ministry) archive in Brasilia. Dávila argues that in order to understand Brazil's relationship with Africa it is imperative to consider both the complexity of race relations in Brazil and its long history of slavery. Brazil's contradictory racial history along with the emotional attachment to Brazil's African roots by the country's intellectual, artistic, and diplomatic elites shaped the attitudes and expectations of the overwhelmingly white diplomatic corps. Brazil's relationship with Africa was also complicated by its colonial history. While British and French African colonies declared independence in the 1960s, the Portuguese African colonies (specifically Angola, Guinea-Bissau, and Mozambique) were in the throes of a multi-front war against the Portuguese dictatorship of António de Oliveira Salazar. Many among the Brazilian elites, supported by large Portuguese ethnic communities in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, maintained a sentimental attachment to Portugal and lobbied for Portugal's national/colonial interests. These factors attenuated Brazil's ability to position itself as a “non-hegemonic postcolonial” power in Africa.