RECONSIDERING CULTURE, COUNTERCULTURE, AND NATION THROUGH A਍ഀ TROPICÁLIA LENS

John R. Baldwin (Illinois State University)

This case study approaches “culture” from a broad approach, applying various definitions from the compilation by Baldwin et al. (2006) to Tropicália, a musical movement that began in the late 1960s in Brazil. The movement was initially booed by਍ഀ audiences and repressed by the military regime, but eventually grew to represent the forces of globalization on the Brazilian music scene. Its reflection of cultural themes਍ഀ and tensions, as well as the role of market economy and state involvement in “culture” constitute it as a prime case study for the understanding of “culture.” The paper considers several types of definitions of culture—such as culture as refinement, as pattern, as process, and as site of struggle—and how each might lead us to look at Tropicália in a different light.