second language that people would learn in schools is overwhelmingly French, but economically and politically they look to the English because the English are the greatest economic power on the planet and they admire English parliamentary politics. ERIC VAN BEMMEL So it was not politically equitable, but the demographic reality was that you had this massive non-white population.  Surely they had some impact on the national culture - before the 1930s I'm talking about? MARSHALL EAKIN Yeah, in the sense that the story of Brazilian history through much of 500 years is this enormous tension that's constantly there between a large population of people who are dispossessed, living in poverty and, in some cases, in slavery until the end of the nineteenth century and a relatively small group of the population that controls all power and most of the wealth.  This is true throughout Brazilian history.  It's the dilemma that the Brazilians grapple with today, socio-economic inequality. ERIC VAN BEMMEL On Up Close this episode, we're talking about nation building in Brazil and how Brazilians came to embrace a unique national identity.  With historian and Brazilianist Professor Marshall Eakin of Vanderbilt University.  I'm Eric Van Bemmel.Now Marshall, coming to the 1930s and beyond, along comes sociologist Gilberto Freyre, who perhaps more than any other single individual would come to influence the Brazilian national identity.  Who was Gilberto Freyre? MARSHALL EAKIN Freyre's a fascinating character.  He comes from Recife in the north-east of Brazil, one of the old colonial centres and