My research project will be about Brazilian music, especially funk and popular music. I will be looking at the whitewashing of Brazilian funk and pop music. My research question is: is there an observable relationship between colorism and race as musicians become more famous.

I believe this is historically significant because Brazil has a history of suppressing black/African music when trying to create a national identity. Now, Brazil has an observable problem, like the rest of world, the whitewashing of artist the more famous they become. Even though plastic surgery is common in Brazil, the procedures that are done on famous musicians are to give them more Eurocentric features.

Currently, my sources will be about the history of popular music and musicians for in-depth background information on the past musicians who made it big and what the popular musicians look like today. As my project continues, I will allocate more primary sources, hopefully from the artist.

Scholarly Sources

• Paul Sneed. “Bandidos De Cristo: Representations of the Power of Criminal Factions in Rio’s Proibidão Funk.” Latin American Music Review / Revista De Música Latinoamericana 28, no. 2 (2007): 220-41. http://0-www.jstor.org.dewey2.library.denison.edu/stable/4499339.