Wiki Cleanup – Liberal Rebellions of 1842

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_rebellions_of_1842_%28Empire_of_Brazil%29

For my Wikipedia clean up, I propose I address the article titled “Liberal Rebellions of 1842” due to the importance of the topic and the clear substantive content gaps acknowledged by the article. This article concerns an uprising that occurred during Brazil’s period as an empire, where, in response to increasingly centralized conservative measures, liberals began to take to the streets to overthrow governments in a number of Brazilian states. Thus, this topic represents an important and significant part of Brazil’s history. Now this article does contain some basic information, but in my extremely limited research, I have found there is more to this topic than is covered in the Wikipedia articles that would contribute to the overall thoroughness of the article. While this may be a relatively small part of Brazil’s history, it still has importance in the greater political and social history of the country. Thus, improving this article would help make the rich history of Brazil much more accessible to the public. It also would help contextualize the political drama of modern Brazil and provide a fuller pictures of the country’s complex political history. One major part of this article that I would like to expand on it the effects and after effects section to show how this ultimately unsuccessful revolt affected Brazil at the time. I believe tackling this article will help us understand as small, but not insignificant part of Brazilian history. Furthermore, my background in political science makes me extremely interested in the politics of Brazil generally, and this represents a specific small way of understanding them.

I have found some reputable sources that address this topic. One such book is about the empire and republic of Brazil from 1822-1930 and contains some good information about the rebellion of 1842 that will add a great deal to the article. Another book that focuses more on the state of Pernambuco contains details of the rebellion that will positively contribute to the article. In my preliminary search I also found a journal article called “When Liberalism Goes Local: Nativism and Partisan Identity in the Sertão Mineiro, Brazil, 1831-1850,” which provides further small details about the rebellion. Now this article is not devoid of sources, but it largely relies on a few sources to make its claims. Thus, I would focus not only on expanding this article but also diversifying the sources to further legitimize the content of the article which will overall improve the article. Overall, I believe that this in an important topic to expand, and there exist enough sources to effectively expand the article.

Wikipedia Revision: Anti-Vaccine Riot

For my second Wikipedia revision assignment, I plan to examine and make improvements to the article titled “Vaccine Revolt.” As one might assume from the title, this article concerns itself with a brief but violent popular backlash to a public health campaign waged by the government of Rio de Janeiro. Although the uprising itself was named for the in-home smallpox vaccinations mandated by the mayor immediately preceding the outbreak of violence, it is crucial to understand that this particular program followed a longer array of stringent measures aimed at eliminating the litany of diseases that had plagued the city since it had become drastically more populated in the nineteenth century. One especially disruptive policy was the demolition of old and low-income housing complexes, which left thousands of city residents homeless and potentially served to aggravate class tensions.

I discovered this article while searching for material relating to positivism in Brazil, an effort which merely uncovered several sources with which the concept had a degree of overlap. Once I learned of the 1904 Vaccine Revolt through these texts, I became intrigued; for the topic of political street violence in general has long interested me, and this event is one sufficiently obscure for me to assume that we will not be covering it in class. Moreover, the riot and its contributing factors may be emblematic of the issues Rio de Janeiro and other large cities faced in the midst of large-scale population influxes from Europe and the Brazilian interior.

The Wiki article itself, while providing a decent summary of the unrest and the series of events that preceded it, fails to make any citations whatsoever. Needless to say, this is insufficient for the standards outlined for the members of our class as editors. To make matters worse, it puts much of the article at some risk for deletion. I will verify as much of the information on the page as I can, in addition to providing what other knowledge I am able to glean from academic sources. One of these is “‘Civilizing Rio de Janeiro’: The Public Health Campaign in the Riot of 1904,” published in the Journal of Social History. Another is “Positivism and Revolution in Brazil’s First Republic: The 1904 Revolt,” published in The Americas. If these sources and the others that I find ultimately befit the purpose, I will also elaborate upon what divisions the turmoil might have revealed within Brazilian society at the onset of the twentieth century.

Potential Wikipedia article on the Bumba-meu-boi festival

For my potential Wikipedia article to improve upon, I propose the page on the Bumba-meu-boi festival. As of now the article only includes a lightly detailed lead. The current lead attempts to summarize the story behind the festival in a sentence or two with a short explanation of the most important characters played. This, in of itself is a gap in the festivals Wiki page. I look to add more details behind the story behind the festival as well as all of its characters and what they symbolize. Other gaps in the article I intend to improve upon are the history of the festival, where it occurs, how long it lasts, and its deep connection to Brazilian culture.

I Think I can do Wikipedia a great service by vastly improving this article because Bumba-meu-boi is one of Brazil’s largest celebrations, yet it isn’t covered nearly as well as Brazil’s main festival, Carnival because it isn’t publicized as much. The festival is also deeply rooted in the nation’s many cultures including that of native tribes. Additionally, the festival is an old tradition that dates back to the late 1800’s, from which it has slowly grown from a single small town to the whole country.

Because the festival is not as well known outside of Brazil there are not large amounts of translated literature on it, like you would find on the Carnival festival. However, there is still an ample abundance of studies on it which will provide me with everything I need. One great source titled The Coexistence of Folk and Popular Culture as Vehicles of Social and Historical Activism: Transformation of the Bumba-meu-boi in Northeast Brazil identifies the complex hybrid cultures within the festival. There are also plenty of books including An Interdisciplinary Study of The Ox and the Slave (Bumba-meu-Boi): A Satirical Music Drama in BrazilI.

 

Wikipedia Article: Luiz Gama

A potential article that I will improve on Wikipedia is the Luiz Gama page. When looking at his page, I saw content gaps in his biography. Specifically, there was a large gap between 1847 and the 1860’s, which is when Gama was 18-31 years old. One of my goals is to fill this gap with details of what he did during this period. I would also like to expand on what kind of cases he handled as a lawyer, as sources have indicated that he has helped free slaves using the law. The Works section is also quite small, so I will also look for more of Gama’s literary contributions. Gama was both a journalist and poet, but there is not a lot of information on the type of work he did. Lastly, more details on his contribution to the Republican Party of São Paulo and their success will hopefully be added.

This article is important for Brazilian history because Gama played an important role for the abolition movement in Brazil. In class, we covered the role of the elites and female slaves in the abolition movement. Although we recognized that free blacks played a role in the abolition movement, we did not go into details with a specific case. By updating the Luiz Gama page, I will be able shed light on the role of free black men in abolition. Gama’s case is especially interesting since he used his career as a lawyer to help slaves. This article is also important for Brazilian culture because Gama was also a journalist and poet. By examining his poems closer, one can gain a better sense of the Brazilian culture at the time. Gama’s work as a journalist would also reveal important topics that were occurring in São Paulo.

Reputable sources that exist to back up the new content I plan to add include several encyclopedias with information on Luiz Gama, such as Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience and the Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture. There are also several books about abolition that include information about Luiz Gama, such as The Abolition of Slavery in Brazil, Children of God’s Fire: A Documentary History of Black Slavery in Brazil and The Destruction of Brazilian Slavery. There is also a Portuguese nonprofit organization in São Paulo, Brazil called Instituto Luiz Gama that is dedicated to Luiz Gama. The organization seems to be made up of professors and lawyers and their website provides more information about Luiz Gama as well. These sources will help add detail to the Wikipedia page of Luiz Gama. Lastly, I checked the Talk page and there were no comments on the page, so hopefully my additions will help.

Wikipedia Article: Japanese cuisine in São Paulo

For my potential article for the Wikipedia Article assignment I am interested in tackling the Japanese cuisine in São Paulo. There are a few content gaps that I saw in the article. First, the formatting of the page is messy- thus making it more difficult to navigate the page and its information. Secondly, the page does not go into Japanese-Brazilian food, specifically sushi, in other countries. For example, in most of Europe there are many Japanese-Brazilian sushi places in Italy that are certified as such. This article is important for improving the coverage of Brazilian history and culture because this is a relatively new culture in Brazil (Japanese arrived in São Paulo in 1530 but the Brazilian government officially signed a Emigration contract for the coffee labor field in 1907).

The sources available are primarily scholarly secondary sources concerning Japanese culture in Brazil from 1908-1940 as well as 1908-1988. I will also be using Japanese-Brazilian cuisine in other countries as a source from the restaurants/food guidelines and standards as a source. On this Wiki page, there was only one comment on the talk page. This comment was regarding mistranslating of one of the sources used. I think this is an important Wiki page to improve and one that could use my help.

 

Wikipedia Article Rewrite: Education in Brazil

For my Wikipedia article, I want to improve on the Education in Brazil article. Currently, the article covers the basic information: a brief history, current school structure, and a few sentences on international education. For such a broad topic, there should be much more information on the article. Education is a very important concept for understanding a nation’s culture. By understanding education, one can understand class and citizenship differences. Education is also important to LGBTQ and women’s issues.

Specifically, I want to expand the history section and add a section discussing prevalent issues in Brazilian education. In the U.S., full citizenship was only given to those who were educated. Adding the history of education will also highlight the history of citizenship. Also, as we discussed in class, Jesuits often used education to covert indigenous peoples to Catholicism. Adding this will highlight corruption in education. It is also important to add issues with education because of what issues in education often highlights: inequality and corruption in government. It also shows what common problems are occurring in greater society today. In the talk page, someone posted a few years ago that Brazil was a “sh*thole country” who had many problems with their “‘public education system’”. It is very important to remove what they said from readers’ minds and input correct information.

I can use the seven constitutions of Brazil to learn a history of voting rights, with emphasis on the latest—1988. I will also use information that we have learned in class to find basic information and find further readings, especially with the Jesuit schools information. The article itself has many references which I can draw more information from, and from the resources that I have obtained from my research project on education, I can learn more about Brazilian educational issues and how leaders have attempted to acknowledge or repair them.

Wikipedia Article: Church of Saint Francis of Assisi (Ouro Preto)

For my Wikipedia entry, I hope to expand upon the current “Church of Saint Francis of Assisi (Ouro Preto)” article. While completing my research proposal on the sculptor and architect Aleijadinho, I found the page for this church which was one of his primary works. Sadly, the current page just exists. Wikipedia is questioning its notability based on a lack of secondary sources, as the entire article is based on only one source. There is nothing more than a brief outline of where the church is, who it was built by, and its major features. Note, none of these components are detailed sections, but mere mentions of each as the whole page is only five sentences long. At the very least, I would like to add sections on the architect, Aleijadinho; the baroque style of the church; and the most prominent architectural features, statues, paintings, and carvings.

Ouro Preto is a UNESCO World Heritage Site for primarily due to its baroque architecture. It also has a rich history as a major mining town in colonial Brazil, which played an important role in the colonial economy. This church is important to Brazilian history and culture because it is a well preserved example of colonial Portuguese architecture. It, along with the artwork inside, are examples of the baroque revival style (also known as rococo or late baroque) which draws from the wealth gained from gold mining in the eighteenth century. This church is evidence of the colonial economy and importance of the Church in Brazil and, therefore, is worthy of a Wikipedia page that outlines its historical and architectural significance.

There is significant scholarship on Ouro Preto, the baroque revival style, Aleijadinho, and this specific church, all of which will contribute to this article. The only content on the talk page of the article is a correction to the one and only external link last August (2017). So, there is currently not any published plan to update or expand the article. It is currently considered a stub-article by Wikipedia which means that it provides some information but is wholly incomplete and far from sufficient coverage of the topic, but has potential for expansion. With my preliminary research, there appear to be enough secondary sources to produce a significantly more developed and complete article with enough verifiable information to merit its own space on Wikipedia.

Wikipedia Link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Saint_Francis_of_Assisi_(Ouro_Preto)

UNESCO classification:

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/124

Secondary Sources:

Bury, J. B. “The ‘Borrominesque’ Churches of Colonial Brazil.” The Art Bulletin 37, no. 1 (1955): 27-53. 

Castriota, Leonardo. “Living in a World Heritage Site: Preservation Policies and Local History in Ouro Preto, Brazil.” Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review 10, no. 2 (1999): 7-19. 

Luiz Gonzaga Teixeira. “Ouro Preto: Brazil’s Monument Town.” Ambio 12, no. 3/4 (1983): 213-15.

Reily, Suzel Ana. “Remembering the Baroque Era: Historical Consciousness, Local Identity and the Holy Week Celebrations in a Former Mining Town in Brazil.” Ethnomusicology Forum 15, no. 1 (2006): 39-62.

Smith, Robert C. “The Colonial Architecture of Minas Gerais in Brazil.” The Art Bulletin 21, no. 2 (1939): 110–59.

Tongtong Wu Wikipedia potential article “Chinese Brazilians”

As a Chinese international student while taking Modern Brazil, I would like to explore the connection between China and Brazil because most of the time in class, the focus of discussion was still Euro-Brazilians, Afro-Brazilians and indigenous people so far, and there was only a little about the Asian influence in Brazil. While reading for the class, I found out that there were Chinese in Brazil at the end of 19th century for cheap labors. Nevertheless, there is always a little content about Chinese contribution to Brazilian history. To expand my knowledge about Brazil, I would like to explore how my Chinese fellows live and are placed in Brazil. My plan is to edit the “Chinese Brazilians” article because this article still needs further improvement.
While reading the article “Chinese Brazilians”, I found out that there was limited description of Chinese immigration with fragmented history. The article missed the part that the Brazilians were hiring Chinese labor after the abolition of slavery to compensate for the labor loss as one of the reasons for Chinese settlements. They focused more on the historical events that the Chinese moving from Lisbon as laborers in Europe, Chinese Communist Revolution, and Cantonese immigration. However, the historical events they presented were so brief without any further elaboration on the specific reasons and backgrounds. I am planning to elaborate on those existing events and incorporated the periods in China to present the push and pull factors for immigration to Brazil. The article also failed to write about the social life of Chinese Brazilians in communities. There was too much underrepresentation in the history of Chinese Brazilians immigration.
The English version of “Chinese Brazilians” only had introduction page, notable Brazilians and references. The page only provided limited knowledge to readers who were interested about Chinese in Brazil, which would result that less people know about the existence of Chinese immigrants. Furthermore, Brazil portrayed the country as a diverse country, whereas they neglected the impact of Chinese influence to their country, as they have aimed to whiten the country. Chinese Brazilians have contributed themselves as laborers starting the 19th century. To an extent, Chinese immigrants also built Brazil, but they were not credited properly in the Brazilian history. Chinese Brazilians made up of Brazilian historical development, and readers should learn about the impact of Chinese to Brazil to better understand Brazilian social issues and immigration.
To help the edition of the article, I would take advantage of my language background, so I am going to read some articles written by Chinese authors on Chinese Brazilians. Those primary sources would be reliable because those are interviews, pictures and journals from Chinese. I would also track back to history timeline by combining Chines History, European history and Brazilian History to find the overlaps among them. By incorporating the historical backgrounds in different countries, I am going to investigate the factors that led to the Chinese became laborers and the reason why they started the immigration to Brazil. I would like to read scholarly works like Negotiating National Identity: Immigrants, Minorities and the Struggle for Ethnicity in Brazil by Jeffrey Lesser. Those secondary sources would aid my overall understandings of Chinese immigration and their social struggles.

Wikipedia Article: Zélia Gattai

For my Wikipedia Article assignment, I hope to improve the page of Zélia Gattai. Zélia Gattai is a writer of various forms of Brazilian literature who primarily lived during Vargas’ “Estado Novo.” She was married to a man who was an active anarchist that was targeted by the regime. Gattai’s life experiences connect well to my overall research topic for the end of the semester. I am conducting research looking at the expectations of women under the Vargas dictatorship. Through researching Gattai, I can look into how she specifically was effected during this time period.

Currently, her article only contains one short lead section, so there are many content gaps that can be expanded upon. There is basic information about her life, but through the expansion of the article it can provide a deeper look into her experience in Brazilian history. I would hope to expand her article by dividing it up into sections where I can provide more background history on both her and her literary works. Some sections I would add are:  Early Life, Late Life, and Literary Works (maybe dividing them up separately).

In her current article, there are only two sources listed. Based on a general search conducted, there appear to be many more sources such as literature reviews and bibliography entries that I can draw on to complete this article. I could also possibly utilize parts from her own memoirs to provide more insight into her life. The current talk page on this article does not have any comments. This article is considered part of a few Wikiprojects, but it looks like they have not really completed any edits or suggested anything as of now. The article link is listed below. I would love to hear any ideas that others may have to help me to improve this article.

Article link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z%C3%A9lia_Gattai

Wikipedia Work: “Football in Brazil”

Article “Football in Brazil” consists of five chapters alongside with two subsections that present the historical, cultural, and social background of soccer in Brazil. This source discusses important historical transitions and the sport’s impact within the nation; however, lacks to capture core ideas of the Brazilian football and fails to properly incorporate evidences. Although the article needs huge improvements on reconstructing its format, I plan to focus on adding cultural significance that addresses how race intertwines with soccer in Brazil. The text emphasizes the sport’s history through underscoring its improvements throughout the years, and further defines football as strictly Brazilian. For example, the article introduces football as an European culture, which underwent a series of adjustment period and became a global sensation. Moreover, it argues that football is perceived as a popular trend which its distinctive styles and international success function as major contributors. However, I noticed that the article disregards race as key component in the Brazilian football. Thus, this project will pursue adding another perspective—race—to the article.

It is important to improve contents of “Football in Brazil” for reflecting Brazilian history and culture because football serves as a representative figure in popular trends alongside with music and carnivals. Marshall Eakin, a history professor at Vanderbilt University, argues that football provided “shared national experiences” in Brazil [1], which indicates that soccer plays an important part in understanding Brazil. Although various factors constitute Brazilian history, popular cultural trends such as soccer should be prioritized. Furthermore, football conveys historical significance that it exemplifies racial diversity, transculturation, and social mobility in Brazil, which all appear as crucial components in contextualizing Brazilian history. However, the article omitted these aspects, rather highlighted the Brazilian football’s status in the international realm without taking account of its main features. Overall, football with its prominence in representing popular cultural trends in Brazil should be recognized for better understanding Brazilian history and culture through adding racial diversity as a key component.

The article relies on news articles for its citation. Scholarly or primary sources appear inconsistent in the reference list as well as the editing process on the Wikipedia Talk Page. For instance, the last update covered women’s soccer culture in 2009, modified few external links, and corrected grammar mistakes—showing no content upgrades over the past five years. For this project, I plan to incorporate two interviews and scholarly sources, which are presented below under “Sources” section. Kittleson discusses race as a major component in Brazilian football, whereas Lever expands Kittleson’s views through highlighting the racial dynamics within the sport. Moreover, two interviews—Ronaldo and Neymar—will be referred for addressing the importance of race in understanding the football culture in Brazil. The interviews demonstrate racial discrimination and mobilization across Brazilian football players. Through utilizing these above sources, I plan to add a new category—race—within the article “Football in Brazil.”

[1] Jeffrey Needell, Emergent Brazil: Key Perspectives on a New Global Power (University Press of Florida, 2015), 22.

Works Cited
Needell, Jeffrey D. Emergent Brazil: Key Perspectives on a New Global Power. University Press of Florida, 2015.

Sources
“Brazil: The ideology of “whitening” and the struggle for a black identity.” Black Women of Brazil. May 09, 2013. Accessed February 13, 2018. https:// blackwomenofbrazil.co/2012/02/09/brazil-the-ideology-of-whitening-and- the- struggle-for-a-black-identity/.

“Neymar Jr, Brazilian Racism and The World Cup of Football (soccer).” The Corn Dealers House. July 30, 2014. Accessed February 13, 2018. https:// tcdh.wordpress.com/2014/06/24/neymar-jr-brazilian-racism-and- the-world-cup- of-football-soccer/.

Kittleson, Roger Alan. The Country of Football: Soccer and the Making of Modern Brazil. Vol. 2. Univ of California Press, 2014.

Lever, Janet. “Soccer as a Brazilian Way of Life.” Games, Sport and Power, ed. Gregory P. Stone 156 (1972): 138-159.