African American

Travel Agency

North America USA
Phone:

215-473-6495

Email:

kenneth.dossar@temple.edu

Diaspora

Black History

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Slave Roots Trade

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Brazil Trip

Heritage

African

Traditions

African American Travel Agency Group

African Traditions in Brazil Bahia is a cultural history tour of the Recôncavo of Bahia. Developed by Professor Kenneth Dossar, African Traditions in Salvador Bahia is designed for individuals and groups interested in the African presence in Brazil -- particularly Bahia. The programs’ goals are educational and engaging. All programs are based in the magical city of Salvador with its stunning, rich, natural beauty, and spiritual energy. From there, the programs move out into the surrounding region. Study tours are well suited for high school and college students, researchers, artists, dancers, musicians, and community cultural organizations.

Brazil has the largest population of African descendants living outside of Africa. Bahia, the cultural capitol of Brazil, was for many years the main entry port for enslaved Africans transported to Brazil. The country has a rich cultural legacy that is rooted in the African traditions brought there during the more than three hundred years of trans-Atlantic slavery. Today, Bahia is a vital center for many contemporary cultural manifestations and political movements created by African Brazilians. Bahia remains a rich and essential repository for African derived cultural practices

PROFESSIONAL PROFILE

African Traditions in Brazil was created by Dr. Kenneth Dossar, an arts consultant and cultural historian, who has collaborated closely with numerous traditional leaders and cultural/arts organizations in developing public programs which explore the common heritage of people of African descent. He has a doctorate in African American Studies from Temple University where he worked as assistant to the renowned Afro-Brazilian scholar Abdias do Nascimento.

Since 1983, Professor Dossar has traveled to Brazil to research Bahia’s African heritage. Dr. Dossar has also performed research in the Caribbean, and Cuba on the continuance of African traditions in music, dance, belief systems and other cultural practices. He developed, and teaches a variety of courses in Latin American, African American, and Atlantic World Studies.

His photos of the African Brazilian martial art - Capoeira Angola appear on the Smithsonian CD Capoeira and in John Lewis’ book: Ring of Liberation. His recent solo photographic exhibition entitled “Spiritual Mothers” was presented by the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Pennsylvania.

Through the Partners of the Americas and other organizations, he oversaw numerous exchange programs between Brazil and the United States. Professor Dossar consults national cultural arts organizations including the American Museum of Natural History, the Caribbean Culture Center, and Dance Brazil in New York. He works with the Capoeira Foundation, the International Capoeira Angola Foundation, and regional cultural institutions including the African American Museum in Philadelphia, and the Folklife Center. He currently evaluates a variety of cultural programs for the Pennsylvania Humanities Council.

Dr. Dossar is a founding member of the US/Brazil Center for Culture and Education. He has produced an array of public events including film festivals, exhibits, music and dance events, and lecture series. His radio program of African Atlantic music – Under on Sun – aired for seven years on Temple University’s radio network.

Professor Dossar created and directs the Temple in Brazil Study Programs which takes students from North American universities to study African Culture and Portuguese in Brazil. He continues to lecture and develop public programs on the African presence in the Atlantic World.

Tours detail aspects of the multifaceted cultural heritage of Bahia. The programs focus on traditions coming from West Africa, principally from the Yoruba; and on those of the BaKongo of West Central Africa. and explore contemporary manifestations of these traditions. Program participants examine: resistance movements, spiritual traditions, popular music and dance, politics, social organizations, and popular festivals.

Bahia The soul of Brazil

This beautiful northeastern state is the most quintessentially ‘Brazilian’ region of the country.

Whichever Brazil you are looking for – beautiful deserted beaches, African heritage, colonial architecture, dramatic national parks, exotic cuisine, exhilarating music or the greatest carnival on Earth – Bahia has it in abundance and we at African American Travel Agency would be delighted to show it to you.

Brazil has its history complete of differents cultures. The most present is the African Culture Traditions, Diaspora, Heritage, where we can see it in a lot of Afro popular celebrations.

Our services not only include traditional travel services, but non-traditional ones as well. Among them are:

advertising and promotion of tours and workshops
we can provide details on cultural nuances
establish networking opportunities for business travelers overseas
provide cultural and education tours and services
hold conferences and handle event planning / management
design full-color graphics, brochures and flyers
we have an archive of extensive photographic files with one-of-a-kind images
we can produce multimedia presentations of desired destinations

As Paparutas, on the Ilha do Paty in Bahia's Bay...

The Ilha do Paty was once the location of a quilombo (village or collection of villages founded by runaway slaves from the region's numerous sugarcane plantations), and the quilombo continues there to this day (although, like Brazil's other quilombos, it is no longer known as such, the currently used term being remanescente do quilombo ("remains of a quilombo"). In English that sounds dead, and these places are very much alive.

....dancing to Bahian samba (samba de roda) with dishes typical to the region.