Urbanities,
Vol. 4
·
No 2
·
November 2014
© 2014
Urbanities
111
relationship between the black movement
and local government for at least ten years’
(p. 145). This centrality allows Goldman to
start the book in 2002, with the
inauguration of the Centre (the books
analyse the period 1992-2004). He
investigates the negotiations around the
centre, campaign events, how changes are
promised and negotiated and the groups
relationships with politicians are some of
the topics that allow Goldman to show the
complexity of the political processes under
investigation and their relationship with
‘other spheres’ of life.
Avoiding
stereotyping
political
practices of actors thorough categories
such as clientelism, ignorance and so on,
the analysis of multiple situations helps us
to understand the way in which support is
gained, how politicians build alliances or
move to a different political party and how
groups and individuals vote. This also
allows Goldman to analyse the difference
between working for someone and voting
for him, and the importance of a
‘conscientious vote’. At the same time,
focusing on the actors’ moral values, he
looks at the different ways in which people
conceptualise politics (for example, as
something worth doing or as something
dirty) and the obligations involved in
political relations. It is important to note
the concept of segmentarity which allows
Goldman to explain political support and
alliances on different levels.
As the book deals with everyday
relations among actors in a neighbourhood,
the territory is relevant. It is especially
important because the analysis deals with a
Terreiro
and with groups settled locally.
Here, the space controlled by different
groups is the object of dispute and
negotiation; particularly between the black
movement leaders and politicians. The
territories in which events occur are
therefore important; for example, in which
neighbourhood a meeting or a presentation
of a politician occurs
talks
about the
relationship between the politician and the
leader of the group. The debate about the
site where the carnival, marches and
meetings are to take place and where the
Memorial of Black Culture of Ilheus would
be located play a key role in establishing
political relations.
As Goldman says, ‘It is irrelevant to
argue about what a true democracy really
is, or whether this or that particular State
(Brazil, for example) is democratic or not.
The issue, rather, is one of trying to confer
a degree of intelligibility to processes
found in national societies which are
organized, at least partially, along
democratic principles’ (p. 159). This is
what this complex and interesting book
shows.
Mariano Daniel Perelman
Universidad de Buenos Aires and
CONICET
Kuchler, Susanne, Kurti, Laszlo and
Elkadi, Hisham
(eds) (2011).
Every Day’s
a Festival. Diversity on Show
. Sean
Kingston Publishing.
This book, edited by Susanne Kuchler,
Laszlo Kurti and Hisham Elkadi, is an
interesting and rich collection on the
shifting role of urban festivals in
contemporary Europe and, to some extent,
in India. The book engages with ongoing
changes in European urban fabrics with
respect to the increasing visibility and
