Race and skin color in Brazil operate in interesting ways. First of all, there is a lot of space between the extremes of white and black. People of mixed descent are not simply classified as black, as they would be in the U.S. This makes commenting on "race" particularly difficult, as one's race is a fairly fluid concept. However, people who are white can pretty readily be identified.
Interestingly, there has been lots of intermixing between "races" such that having social contact between races does not seem to be a big deal. In the 20th Century (I'm still learning my history, so there could be some errors), there has been no state-sponsored segregation or state-condoned terrorism (like the KKK) against black folks. There was no Civil Rights Movement. The supposed racial harmony has allowed some elites in the country to maintain the idea that Brazil is a "racial democracy," where an individual's race or color does not work against him/her and where everyone is valued and given a chance at meaningful participation in society. However, when you look at data to determine well-being, there is a pronounced difference between the wealth and health of "whites" and everyone else. And, as in the U.S., darker folks have generally gotten the short end of the stick. If you look at poverty rates, family wealth, educational attainment and the like (incarceration rates, life expectancy, etc....I haven't seen these two figures for Brazil but have heard reference to them), you can't help but notice the great difference between whites and non-whites. Though many non-white folks have made it to positions of prominence and wealth, the individual successes prove to be exceptions to the general conditions of inequality. Black and dark-skinned folks seem to have the toughest time of it. Writing about all of that will probably take several blog entries. I'll keep it general for now.
The sources of the color mixing are pretty easy to identify. The Portuguese, who where white, came around 1500. They found Indians. They imported slaves, over 3,000,000 of them (by contrast, the U.S. imported only about 600,000 or 800,000; but, the U.S. relied much more heavily on slave-breeding to perpetuate slavery). In fact, slaves, who, with minor exceptions, were black, constituted a great majority of the population (I think around 75% at the time of emancipation). Slavery did not end until 1888. A feature of Brazilian slavery not found in the U.S. was the presence of quilombos. Quilombos were settlements set up by runaway slaves or ex-slaves. They varied in size from nearly 30,000 (in Palmares, the most famous quilombo and site of active resistance to the Portuguese) to areas with just a couple families. The quilombos were cooperative communities, and the residents grew crops or lived off of the local vegetation, raised or hunted livestock, and sent extras and handmade goods to nearby markets (if safe to do so).
Today, we visited two Quilombos. The first has been populated for a bit over 100 years (so, it was formed after slavery ended) and is located in what is now the heart of Rio de Janeiro. The city of Rio de Janeiro is now seeking to evict the folks on it. While the given reason is the desire to preserve valuable species of vegetation, this seems specious in light of the huge and costly condo development sitting two hundred feet higher on the hill. A more likely explanation is that the city wants the land in order to facilitate its development. Brazil has a large economy with wealth distributed highly inequitably. The upper and rising classes are seeking better accomodations, and occupied hillsides provide attractive spots (who knows what will happen in the coming days to favelas, which are basically slums that are built on hillsides offering amazing views?).
This quilombo has attempted to take advantage of a recent law that provides title to communities that can meet a statute-prescribed definition of quilombo. The various proceedings have apparently been going on for 40 years, but I am not familiar with the intricacies. I'll be keeping my eyes opened for more information on the efficacy of the land title law. While the law is neither reparation or restoration, it could be an interesting example of acknowledgement by the state of the law's role in supporting slavery and, consequently, oppression of blacks, for whom emancipation did not bring the chance for great upward mobility.
The second quilombo was about an hour and a half drive outside of Rio. This one dated to the days of slavery, and the head of the house welcomed runaway slaves into the quilombo. This quilombo is also trying to obtain title to the land. But, my attention here was diverted from the law and history and to the three cute kids in the picture at the top of this posting. Junior, the smallest guy, is 12. Jonathan, the middle-sized guy, is also 12. Nathan is 14 and tall and Jonathan's older brother. The three boys and I talked for a couple hours during our walking tour of the quilombo. They spokebasic English pretty well. I spoke Portuguese the entire time (except to fix their errors). It was a beautiful time, and I dragged far enough behind the group of students that my professors jokingly threatened to leave me behind unless I kept up the pace. Amazingly, it did not strike me as all that surprising that in the middle of a relatively poor (by our standards), rural area (to be fair, there was power, running water, etc.), they took my picture with a digital camera, asked if I was on the Brazilian version of Facebook (no), and then exchanged e-mail addresses with me. It's only a matter of time until we use our webcams to get on Skype...
Enough for now! I'd love to see your comments and questions.
It seems like you are learning a lot. I have spent a lot of time in grad school learning about race in Latin America in the Caribbean. Brazil is such an interesting country to study race (There are tons of books on this too). One of my professors said it is one of the most racist countries he has ever been too, and he has pretty much been everywhere. But it is always a trip being in Latin America and realizing the way they classify race. Not that it is wrong, but it is just so different from what we are taught in the US. I remember talking to one of my friends in Cuba one day and he asked me what race I was in the US. I told him I was black. He laughed. He said that I clearly was not black. Just goes to show you the differences in race. But it sounds like you are doing a lot. I hope you keep having fun.
ReplyDeleteComputer toting kids in quilombos sound about as unexpected as all of the cell phone toting families living beneath overpasses in Delhi, eh? I take that back. A computer I can understand, but having net access and all the toys to go with it?
ReplyDeleteIf you're interested in biased attitudes, it's worth checking out another aspect of Brazilian and in general Latin American bias. That of the cristãos novos or marranos. They are concentrated mainly in the area of Recifé. Many returned to Judaism when the Dutch conquered that part of Brazil, but when the Portuguese recovered the land after quite a while, those Jews fled north to the Caribbean and the lovely city of New Amsterdam. Those who didn't cast their lot with the Dutch remained. Everybody knows they are "new Christians" and looks down on them, although in the past few years, they have started to stand up to this bias. Some have chosen to align their ethnic Judaism with its faith. Others wish to retain their Catholic faith while acknowledging their separate identity.
ReplyDeleteKeep it up.
ReplyDeleteDuring my Latin American History class, we talked about the concepts of "race" as perceived differently in North and South America. The terms "quadroon" and "octoroon" were also used in the U.S., (and, I believe, for some years on the census.)However, in the U.S., there was the belief that one drop of African blood made a person Black; indeed, Homer Plessy, of Plessy v. Ferguson infamy, was just one-eighth Black.
ReplyDeleteIn Brazil, does one's economic status affect racial categorization? Is Pele still "Black?"