1. Themes of Structural Violence and
Struggles of Love in Northeastern Brazil
Alison Steinbacher
Department of Anthropology, Northern Arizona University
Abstract
Connection
Theories
Death Without Weeping: The Violence of Everyday
Life in Brazil
References
This poster presents a visual and textual consideration of Nancy Scheper-Hughes’ research and
work in Northeastern Brazil with women, child rearing, and healthcare practices, relating this
work to theories introduced in anthropology by Ruth Benedict, Margaret Mead, and Marvin
Harris. Scheper-Hughes found that the people of Alto do Cruzeiro face everyday structural
violence and conditions of scarcity, particularly affecting women in the community. These
factors occur due to lack of governmental and economic support, as well as lack of healthcare
and health related resources. These constraints on the community over many decades have led
to sickness, poverty, death, hunger, psychological strain, and most importantly loss within the
community. This loss remains most prominent in infant mortality, and relates back to how
mothers and other members of the community situate themselves with grieving, loss, and love in
ways much different from the average American. By examining Scheper-Hughes’ work, this
poster relates the factors of scarcity and structural violence back to the important core concepts
of Psychology in Anthropology and the theory of Cultural Materialism.
In Nancy Scheper-Hughes’ ethnography, a chronicle of
the struggles of life in the community of Bom Jesus de
Mata is discussed. This community deals with troubling
and difficult health and social issues, caused by the
stark and disturbing past history of colonization efforts in
the area. These effects continue today with the
subsequent social and physical depression of middle
and lower-class peoples in Bom Jesus. In particular,
Scheper-Hughes focuses on a feminist perspective,
looking at the lives and struggles of women, child
bearing and rearing practices, and the struggles of
motherly love that remain much different from our
Western perspective of the mother-child relationship.
This work provides a shock to the Western reader, but
one realizes the cultural modifications to be necessary
in the violent lives of Bom Jesus residents. Overall, this
ethnography provides an insightful, straightforward look
into the issues of health, hunger, and scarcity, looking at
how these issues affect the social lives and
relationships in Bom Jesus de Mata (Scheper-Hughes
1992).
Ruth Benedict and Margaret Mead: These
women brought a unique and unprecedented
view into anthropology through a feminist
perspective previously unbeknownst to the
field. Cultural psychology, a main theme in their
work, states that the personality of the
individual remains influenced by culture
(Moberg 2013).
Marvin Harris: A proponent of cultural
materialism, he argued that technological and
economic influence play a role in shaping
society. This theory looks at the effects of
materials on culture and society, giving a
largely etic perspective. Harris, like Marx,
utilized the term “mode of production” to
explain the material base of society, twisting
the term to solely refer to the resources
present in a society (Moberg 2013: 248-249).
Moberg, Mark
2013 Engaging Anthropology: A Social and Political History. Routledge Taylor
and Francis Group, London and New York.
Scheper-Hughes, Nancy
1992 Death Without Weeping: The Violence of Everyday Life in Brazil.
University of California Press. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California.
Scheper-Hughes’ work alongside the theories of Ruth Benedict , Margaret Mead, and Marvin Harris show
the application of theory to cultural lives. In Bom Jesus de Mata, poverty and death remain extremely
influenced by the “mode of production,” or the material base of society, which Scheper-Hughes identifies
as cane sugar. This incredible overtake of a single cash crop turned the community away from self
sustaining agriculture, and led them into massive food shortages for the poor, but also to low wages for
long hard work in the sugarcane fields.
Psychologically, the people of Bom Jesus have adapted to the incredible difficulties placed upon them, in
particular relating to the every day violence of child death. Women develop a delayed sense of connection
to their children within the community of Bom Jesus, largely due to the incredible amount of childhood
death that occurs. This delayed attachment remains a controversial topic, but shows the crucial
understanding of differentiation of love, death, and how humans deal with these facts of life
psychologically across cultures. Structural violence within this incredibly problem ridden community plays
an obvious and incredibly detrimental role in the lives of those in Bom Jesus de Mata.
Table 7.2 retrieved from: Scheper-Hughes 1991:307.
Child Funeral in Bom Jesus. (Scheper-Hughes 1991:498).
Leonardo at his younger cousin’s grave (Scheper-Hughes 1991:424).
Young boy eating sugarcane
(Scheper-Hughes 1991:35).