Southwest Humanities is very pleased to announce the publication of another marvelous book we have recently indexed. Andrew Britt’s I’ll Samba Someplace Else: A Spatial History of Race, Ethnicity, and Displacement in São Paulo (Duke University Press, 2026) is a deeply researched study of how race and ethnicity become embedded in urban space. Focusing on three well-known neighborhoods in São Paulo (Brasilândia, Liberdade, and Bexiga), the book traces how these areas came to be labeled as “African,” “Japanese,” and “Italian,” respectively. Rather than treating these identities as organic or inevitable, Britt shows that they were actively constructed over the mid-twentieth century through urban planning decisions, redevelopment projects, cultural production, and political contestation. Drawing on archival research, spatial analysis, and engagement with community organizations, the book demonstrates how actors ranging from city officials to samba musicians participated in shaping the racialized geography of the city.

A central argument of the book is that the creation of these “ethnoracialized” neighborhoods served contradictory purposes. On the one hand, they reinforced structural inequalities, especially through the displacement of Afro-descendant populations from central districts to peripheral areas during waves of modernization and urban renewal. On the other hand, they helped sustain Brazil’s powerful narrative of racial and cultural harmony by presenting the city as a mosaic of distinct but coexisting ethnic communities. By unpacking this paradox, Britt contributes significantly to fields such as urban history, critical geography, Latin American studies, and race and ethnicity studies. The book not only reframes the history of São Paulo but also offers a broader critique of how multiculturalism can coexist with and obscure persistent racial inequality and anti-Black violence, making it relevant to scholars studying cities and race well beyond Brazil.

For more information about this excellent new study, please see the publisher’s website here.