Making music and masculinity in vangrancy's shadow: race, walth, an malandragem in post-abolition Rio de Janeiro

This article discusses strategies which Afro-Brazilian men used to distance themselves from demeaning assumptions and stereotypes attached to slavery and vagrancy in Rio de Janeiro. The piece focuses on the first 50 years after abolition (1888) but also shows how the ideologia da vadiagem—a set of ideas and stereotypes which defined black, poor, and mixed-race men and women as lazy and inferior—cast a long shadow deep into the twentieth century. The primary lens is the music market, which, beginning around the turn of the century, provided one of the earliest and most public venues in which black men were judged as members of a free society. Some musicians played samba and a number used malandragem, the lifestyle and ethos of flashy, masculine, malandro hustler figures, to cater to audience desires and also to distinguish themselves from caricatures of sickly, weak vadios (vagrants or idlers). Other artists rejected malandragem or only embraced it selectively, instead preferring a more toned-down "professional" look and demeanor meant to secure dignity and respect for themselves, their music, and the communities for which they served as figureheads. Eduardo das Neves, Moreno, Donga, Pixinguinha, Brancura, and Ismael Silva are among the musicians discussed here. By interpreting malandragem as a response to the ideologia da vadiagem, and as one of many identities and strategies employed by black entertainers, the article provides unique insights about the relationship between race, class, gender, and sexuality and a new way to understand the long-term effects of slavery and related assumptions about race and masculinity in Brazil. (AU)

Galantamine in the treatment of adult autism: a report of three clinical cases.

OBJECTIVE: To study the usefulness of galantamine, a competitive, reversible acetylcholinesterase inhibitor (AChEI), in adults diagnosed with autism (in accordance with DSM-IV-TR Axis I clinical criteria) before age three years. METHODS: To promote verbalization and meaningful speech sound production through biochemical enhancement of the serotonergic subsystem of the central nervous system (CNS), galantamine 4 mg qhs was administered, with indicated dose increases. RESULTS: Verbal fluency increased in all patients, according to their caregivers. One patient developed a macular rash that abated when the medication was discontinued. After one month on donepezil 5 mg qhs, verbal and behavioral regression again led to discontinuation. Doses for the other patients have been escalated by 4 mg daily each month to a maximum of 12 mg, with improvement following each increase. CONCLUSIONS: Cholinergic stimulation of the CNS serotonergic subsystem with galantamine may enhance expressive language and communication in autistic adults. Clinical trials are needed to study adjuvant therapy with galantamine in such patients.