A Brazilian Exiled in Angola: Maria do Carmo Brito, 1976–77

This paper examines the exile experience of Brazilian revolutionary Maria do Carmo Brito (“Lia” of the VPR) as a means of analyzing the symbolic role that the idea of Africa and the perception of the significance of race mixture play in framing Brazilian identity.  As much as Brito rebelled against the structure of Brazilian society as she engaged in armed struggle, her choices about exile and the role that her perceptions of identity played in choosing Angola as a refuge nonetheless echoed the constructions of national identity embraced by the generals against whom she had fought.  This paper focuses on the experience of Brito, along with others like her husband Shizuo Ozawa (Mário Japa, also of the VPR), who spent their exile in former Portuguese colonies in Africa.  In the end, the paper shows the enduring trans-oceanic connections that still linked Brazil and the west coast of Africa long after the end of the slave trade.