Carnaval: The Social Dimension
Objective
As a result of this lesson, students will be able to:
- Determine the socio-economic status of participants in the Carnaval celebrations in Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and Recife/Olinda.
- Evaluate the degree to which socio-economic disparity is reflected in the manner in which people celebrate Carnaval.
Material
Activities
- Explain to the class that one of the unfortunate realities of Brazilian life is the huge gap between rich and poor, and that this lesson will explore how that reality is reflected in Carnaval celebrations.
- Write the phrase “socio-economic status” on the chalkboard.
- As a class, ask students to list indicators that would show if a family is rich or poor.
- Note: indicators might include the type and amount of clothing a family can buy, their house, number of consumer goods they have (refrigerator, washer, microwave, TV, video games, etc.) food they eat, where they shop (mall, local market, etc.) number of times they could go to the movies or other entertainment activities, etc.
- Ask students to now list indicators that would indicate the amount of money needed to participate in a Carnaval celebration.
- Note: factors might include the cost of participating in a bloco or Samba School; amount of technology used by the group; elaborateness of costumes, floats, etc.; where the parades take place (if the space is limited and has bleacher or boxes the cost of entrance will be higher); degree of international recognition (which will increase prices for hotels, participation in a group, and entrance prices), etc.
- Divide the class into working groups.
- Instruct students to examine all of the available Carnaval materials and to list all the clues they can find that would indicate who is most likely to participate in the publicized festivities. How might the other socio-economic groups celebrate Carnaval?
- Direct each group to prepare a report to the class expressing their opinions using multiple examples to support their views.
