Rebhun, L. A. (1995). The language of love in Northeast Brazil. In W. Jankowiak (Ed.), Romantic passion: A universal experience? (pp. 239-261). New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
Rebhun, L. A. (1999). The heart is unknown country: Love in the changing economy of Northern Brazil. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
The author reports on a study of love conducted in the 1990s in a region of northeastern Brazil with a relatively rural population. The specific purposes of the study were to explore
- What are the emotional roles of men and women in their relationships with one another?
- How do men and women develop conjugal relationships in this region?
- What is the impact of rapid socioeconomic change on courting, marriage, cohabitation, and adultery?
The author reports the study of love in Northeast Brazil. Specific attention is given to the emotional experiences that men and women feel toward one another. In this study, the author was interested in how men and women develop conjugal relationships in this region.
The author noted that in those few decades of the 20th century, rapid urbanization and the rise of the cash economy had altered the region. This anthropological research demonstrated the impact of rapid socioeconomic change on courting, marriage, cohabitation, and adultery. The author showed that in just a few decades, the region has been altered by rapid urbanization and the rise of the cash economy. Consequently, these modifications in social life shifted the way how men and women act during courtship, form marriages, consider the proprieties of sexual behavior. The study assessed the right social and economic positions and gender roles of men and women.
So, the author looked, among other things, at the changes in how people date, get married, and think about what’s right and wrong in sexual behavior. As ideas of romance once associated with infidelity, concubinage, and courtship are increasingly attached to marriage. The relative importance of physical, economic, and emotional intimacy in conjugal relationships has shifted/ These changes transformed marriage from a largely economic relationship to a largely emotional relationship.
The book is mostly based on interviews with men and women who spoke with wit and passion about their tangled love situations. The book presents many personal anecdotes and quotations. Men and women were asked to talk about their differences, and women were asked to talk about their differences. The author asked men and women about their views on prostitution, concubinage, and promiscuity, as well as their conceptions of love. Parents were polled on their attitudes toward marriage and child rearing (particularly the disparities in parenting boys and girls). Parents were also interviewed about their relationships with their own parents, lovers, spouses, and friends. The author also explored their views on virginity and sexual appropriateness.