english / portugues
   
 
  Adair Aguiar (Kabum) - Interview with Sergio Mamberti, 25th October 2005.
   
 

Introduction:
 
 
At the debate about “Brazilian Hospitality Culture” that took place at the World Tourism Forum, various government bodies as well as private organisations were brought together. Amongst these was the actor and Secretary of Identity and Cultural Diversity of the Ministry of Culture, Sérgio Mamberti. He gave an interview for Youth Destinations, a project developed by Iko Poran and the Hospitality Institute.
 
  Sergio Mamberti became aware of the massive variety culture that comes into Brazil mainly as a result of television and other such mediums from the United States. This globalisation inspired cultural movement bombards our own cultural diversity, and so in his opinion it is important that this cultural exchange is controlled.
 
 

The secretary also talked about “Antropofagia” (the idea of one culture dominating another) as quoted by Oswald Andrada, as well as the controversy that currently exists between SEBRAE and the Department of Culture with regard to the fact that craft-work culture should be aided by the Ministry of Culture and should demand a more solid base so that this culture can be maintained.
 
  1. YOUTH DESTINATIONS: What can the Department of Culture do to help hospitality culture in tourism?
 
 
SERGIO MAMBERTI :
This depends on the integration between the public policies of the Department of Culture and the Department of Tourism, as culture is about people, about talking, about emotion. If you went to a nice beach on the Brazilian Coast, with a good hotel and restaurant network and got poor service, i.e. without the usual friendliness of Brazilians, then that place loses its identity as it has lost its defining quality. What creates identity or quality, or what creates the special Brazilian style, is exactly what every person from our culturally diverse country has as their own personal traits, but one characteristic in common amongst everyone is the extremely open personality when it comes to discussion. This is a Brazilian characteristic, the opposite to some countries where the tendency is to be more reserved, and it even sometimes surprises us to see them acting in a more friendly way. Since Brazilians already have this tendency we must streamline the process and hence strengthen this relationship.
 
  2. YOUTH DESTINATIONS: Is there any investment by the Department of Culture to support new artists who break through?
 
 
SERGIO MAMBERTI :
The government made certain strategies available, such as SEBRAE, which has invested a lot in craft work, as well as in other art produced in various social and cultural sectors. But nowadays a controversy exists as some think that craft work culture should be covered by the Department of Culture henceforth becoming more stable. I defend this point of view, and the Department of Culture should have a more solid framework to be able to shelter this activity that nowadays is economically important to the country. My department, of Identity and Cultural Diversity, was founded to create and look after public policies that deal with fields other than professional artists, meaning all forms of pop culture, indigenous culture, and particularly urban culture. Therefore my department encourages such artists to develop their talents with the support of public money. In this way the Department will achieve a very important result which will reflect on tourism in that when someone goes to another country they will want to take some form of souvenir with them, something that brings with it some of the emotion that was felt on being in that place.
 
 
3. YOUTH DESTINATION:
Brazilian culture is a diverse mix of cultures, and has a range of influences. What can be done to calm the effects of foreign culture on our culture?
 
 
SERGIO MAMBERTI :
Nowadays we have a big variety of culture in our society, particularly with the audio-visual cultural influence from the United States. Our cultural diversity was at the mercy of such a cultural bombardment caused by globalisation. Nowadays, the convention of Cultural Diversity, that was promulgated on the 20th of October, will work towards controlling our cultural diversity, giving backing so that increasingly the public policies of the Department of Culture go in the same direction. This does not mean that out culture must become isolated: one characteristic of our culture is that it is always open to exchanges, but it has to be a balanced exchange that does not have one culture completely replacing the other. Oswald Andrada spoke of “Antropofagia” (roughly translated as man-eating), saying that since the arrival of Bishop Sardinha when he was devoured by the Indians, Brazil has digested all that has arrive in terms of culture and developed it from our own perspective, from our vision. But at the same time we cannot just put our culture in the metaphorical freezer – isolated, to preserve it – as culture is fundamentally an ever-changing dialogue. We must create these protection measures that mean that Brazilian cinemas do not only show films from the USA whilst not giving Brazilian films the chance to be shown. We live in interesting times, not only as a result of the compromises of the Department of Culture in Lula’s government, but also in an international sense as the USA has suffered a defeat. This of course does not mean that we do not have other battles and obstacles to overcome, particularly with regard to the cultural industry in the World Business Organisation, but these battles will be launched from a different standpoint. The convention will provide the basis for the development of public policies, principally by encouraging and preserving the methods mentioned in this interview.