UCLA

This study looks at the intersection of tourism and historical memory in the eastern Paraíba Valley of Brazil. Once the world's leading producer of coffee, the region known as the Vale do Café (“Valley of Coffee”) is now a hub for heritage tourism based on preserved fazendas (plantations) and other sites related to the 19th-century coffee boom. Inspired by existing scholarship on plantation tourism in the United States, this study seeks to understand whether and how slavery is represented to visitors at historical coffee plantations in Rio de Janeiro state. Specifically, to what extent are stories about slavery and the enslaved present in the narration of history at these sites? Which/whose stories are reflected in the landscapes and material culture of these sites, and which/whose have been hidden or erased? To answer these questions, I employ a mix of ethnographically-informed research methods to document and analyze my experiences of participating in the guided tours of two fazendas in Vassouras, Rio de Janeiro. I examine how three major elements of the plantation tour–the physical landscape, the material culture, and the tour guide–interact to present a romanticized narrative of the “Coffee cycle” era that highlights the wealth and achievements of the planter class while rendering invisible the lives and labor of the enslaved. Building on the work of previous scholarship in social memory and heritage tourism, this research seeks to contribute to broader discussions regarding the public memory of slavery and possibilities for reparative justice at plantation tourism sites.