The Middle East and Brazil

Abstract

The title at hand is a valuable and timely edited volume that sheds light on the economic, political, literary, social, cultural, religious, and historical connections between Brazil and the Middle East. Whereas the Middle East in this respect primarily means the area historically referred to as bilād al-shām (i.e., Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Israel), the book also tackles the historical linkages among Brazil, Muslim Andalusia, and West Africa. Structurally, the volume is divided into three parts, which are preceded by an introduction by the editor. Part 1, “South-South Relations, Security Politics, Diplomatic History,” includes five papers, the first four of which are more or less straightforward treatments of political history/science. Paul Amar sketches the dynamic strategic changes in policy toward the region and hegemonic American power during the early presidency of Dilma Rousseff (2010-13) in the face of major changes in the Middle East that rendered her continuation of the “handshake politics” that her predecessor Lula had extended toward the now-crumbling dictatorial regimes unfeasible. In the following chapter, Paulo Daniel Elias Farah discusses one of the fruits of Lula’s endeavors: the formation of the Summit of South America-Arab States in 2003. He situates this diplomatic concord within a long history of contacts between Brazil and the Arab/Muslim world as well as the transnational flows of forced and free migration, as epitomized by the presence of enslaved West African Muslims and then, later on, Syro-Lebanese settlers in Brazil. Carlos Ribeiro Santana’s contribution sheds light on Brazil’s pragmatism in fostering relationships with the Middle East to secure its oil supplies against the background of the energy crises of the 1970s. This thread is also picked up in the following paper by Monique Sochaczweski, which details how these very configurations caused Brazil to abandon its “equidistance” policy ...