This book is about the presence of northeastern Brazilian colonial architecture in two West African countries: Benin (the former Republic of Dahomey) and Nigeria. This particular style was taken there by merchants and slaves (ex-slaves and their families) who returned to Africa after the Law of Abolition of 1888. The philosopher Marianno Carneiro da Cunha describes the Brazilian influence in certain cities in the African regions mentioned above. The book discusses traditional Yorubá architecture, the design of Brazilian colonial homes, and the Afro-Brazilian influence on new construction in Africa. The author insists that the book makes no claim at all to be an analysis of style or of the evolution of architectural ideas. He points out that the ready acceptance and swift application of Brazilian colonial architecture was not due solely to the influence of a nascent middle class (made up of descendants of ex-slaves from Brazil), but rather to the fact that it suited the Yorubá’s spatial requirements. The book also includes photographs by Pierre [Fatumbi] Verger that show various facades, architectural details, and construction materials.       

This is the only publication available that documents the presence of Brazilian colonial architecture in West African countries (São Paulo: Nobel / Editora da Universidade de São Paulo, 1985). This book sheds light on the cultural influence of Afro-Brazilians (ex-slaves and their descendants) on their return to Africa in the late nineteenth century. 

Marianno Carneiro da Cunha, who trained as a philosopher, conducted pioneering studies on various aspects of the relationship between Brazilian descendants of African slaves and certain communities in the Yorubá area (currently Nigeria) that focused mainly on art and religion—he also wrote “Esboço histórico: o elemento negro nas artes plásticas del Brasil” [see doc. no. 1110463]. He contributed to the establishment of the Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia de la USP (Universidade de São Paulo), to which he loaned the collection of religious art objects he had assembled during his stint as a visiting professor at the University of Ife (today’s Obafemi Awolowo University), in Ile Ife, Nigeria.  

Pierre [Fatumbi] Verger, the ethnographer and photographer whose photographs illustrate the book, was also a tireless researcher of the links that connected Africa and Brazil. Encouraged to do so by Jorge Amado and Carybé, Verger started photographing the candomblé cult rituals soon after his arrival in Bahia. 

Raul Lody (b. 1952), another anthropologist and specialist on Afro-Brazilian cultural influence, especially on religion, published a number of studies on this subject, including Vinte e um bastões cerimoniais [21 ceremonial scepters] (Rio de Janeiro: Museu Nacional, 1990); Dezoito esculturas antropomorfas de orixás [doc. no. 1110529]; and others that were more focused on the theme such as “Yorubá: um estudo etno-tecnológico de 50 peças da coleção arte africana do Museu Nacional de Belas-Artes” [doc. no. 1110532], and “Coleção Arthur Ramos” [doc. no. 1110525].

Other published articles and studies on this subject by noted specialists that have already been filed in the ICAA digital archive include: Catálogo ilustrado do Museu Folclórico, by Oneyda Alvarenga [doc. no. 1110523]; Cosmologias e altares, by Maria Lúcia Montes [doc. no. 1110528]; Cem anos de arte afro-brasileira, by Marta Heloísa Salum [doc. no. 1110524]; Para nunca esquecer. Negras memórias. Memórias de negros,published by the Museu Histórico Nacional [doc. no. 1110530]; and Catálogo do Museu Afro Brasileiro, by Jocélio Teles dos Santos [doc. no. 1110521]. (4)