Abstract
Amaro is the traditional word used to describe the Brazilian returnees whose advent in Lagos was an aftermath of the abolition of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. And since their return to Lagos they have succeeded in institutionalizing a replica of the Rio-carnival known in Lagos as the fanti carnival. This paper examines the advent of the Amaro (Brazilian returnees) in Lagos from the 1830s and their contributions to the Lagos cultural system with an appraisal of the place of fanti carnival in the Lagos cultural system. As one of the cultures which diffused from the pacific to the Lagos society few years prior to the British conquest of Lagos in 1851, the fanti carnival has become a state-wide cultural system from being an exclusive Lagos Island affair .This paper using the historical narrative and analytical methods, provides insights into how the fanti carnival became a state-wide affair. The paper concludes that the introduction and eventual integration of the fanti carnival into the Lagos cultural system was as a result of the atavistic ties of the Brazilian returnees (Amaro) to their pristine cultural heritage and the transplantation of their cultural identity to cosmopolitan Lagos.
Author Information
Bashir Olalekan Animashaun, Lagos State University, Nigeria
Paper Information
Conference: ECAH2018
Stream: Humanities - Other Humanities
This paper is part of the ECAH2018 Conference Proceedings (View)
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