What’s in a Name? Searching for the African Origins of “Samba” and “Zumbi” in Brazil

This talk explores the contours of prolonged searches for African origins of two of Brazil’s most cherished, recognizable symbols: samba and Zumbi, the last leader of the famous 17th-century quilombo (runaway slave community). The talk asks why and how scholars “etymologized” two unique forms of cultural-national patrimony—one intangible (samba) and the other a person and his legend—and what these searches for linguistic (and other) origins may tell us about the creation of modern Brazil.