R e s u m oEste artigo analisa o papel que o turismoétnico tem na construção da classe média e a interação entre as classes médias rurais e urbanas neste processo. Baseando-se em dados etnográficos da Festa Pomerana, uma festa alemã em Pomerode, Brasil, este artigo mostra que a manutenção da etnicidadeé parte de um amplo processo de construção da classe média no Brasil. Este artigo usa a metáfora roots/routes para analisar a formação e manutenção de certos segmentos da classe média na América Latina. Este artigo ilustra que a classe média no Brasil ajuda a perpetuar tradiçõesétnicas alemães no Brasil e ao mesmo tempo este turismoétnico contribui para a formação da classe média no país. O artigo salienta o papel que turismo doméstico tem na construção da identidade de classe média nas regiões rurais da América Latina e a interação com a classe média urbana. [Brasil, classe media, etnicidade, identidade, turismo]
A b s t r a c tThis article analyzes the role that ethnic tourism plays in the formation of the middle class and the interaction of rural and urban residents in this process. Drawing on ethnographic data from Festa Pomerana, a German festival in Pomerode, Brazil, the article illustrates how the maintenance of ethnic roots is part of a larger process of constructing Brazil's middle class. It adapts the root/route metaphor established by previous scholars to analyze the formation and maintenance of certain segments of the middle class in Latin America. It argues that middle-class Brazilians' consumption of German and other ethnic traditions through domestic tourism helps perpetuate ethnic roots at the same time as it provides semirural hosts and urban tourists with routes to middle-classdom. This work highlights the role of domestic tourism in the construction of middle-class identity in less urban regions of Latin America and its interplay with middle-class identity in larger urban spaces. [Brazil, class, ethnicity, identity, tourism] As I and other participants enter Festa Pomerana in Pomerode, Brazil, the vivid blue and white ribbons and banners draw our attention, as do the colorful flower gardens of homes passed on the way to the festival grounds. Despite the hot and humid day, Brazilian dancers from Pomerode and the surrounding region perform German folk dances in several layers of clothing, including long sleeves and slacks. Their attire and performances are inspired by, and at times exact replications of, folk traditions from various regions in Germany and other Germanic countries. While some of the Brazilian locals and tourists in attendance are dressed in contemporary clothing, others sport traditional-looking German attire adapted in design and material for Brazilian weather and fashion and sold by local seamstresses. The smell of the wood-fired ovens and baking bread and cucas, a German-style dessert made daily on site by local women, tempt the senses and the pocket book, as do the many ethnically German dishes offered at the event and its cooking competitions. Within Festa Pomerana, the A...