THE NEW BLACKS FROM BAHIA - LOCAL AND GLOBAL IN AFRO-BAHIA

Focusing on the metropolitan area of Salvador, the capital of the stat e of Bahia, the Brazilian state with the highest percentage of blacks in the population, this paper describes change in colour terminology, the development of a new black Baian culture and the way in which new international black symbols and youth culture in general are merged wi th the Afro-Baian tradition. Our focus is on young people. Change in b lack-Baian culture and, or as much of the Brazilian mass media phrase it, the ''re-Africanisation'' of Bahia show international and internat ionalizing tendencies, but continue to call our attention to many of t he specificities of Brazilian life. The Baian case shows that a new us age of black symbols need not be associated automatically with an incr ease in racial polarization along Northern American or Northwestern Eu ropean lines.