The Politics of Blackness: Racial Identity and Political Behavior in Contemporary Brazil

282 Pages·2017·5.796 MB·English

by  Gladys L. Mitchell-Walthour

THEPOLITICSOFBLACKNESS
This book uses an intersectional approach to analyze the impact of the
experience of race on Afro-Brazilian political behavior in the cities of
Salvador, São Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro. Using a theoretical framework that
takes into account racial group attachment and the experience of racial dis-
crimination,itseekstoexplainAfro-Brazilianpoliticalbehaviorwithafocus
on affirmative action policy and Law 10.639/03 (which requires that African
and Afro-Brazilian history be taught in schools). It fills an important gap in
studies of Afro-Brazilian underrepresentation by using an intersectional fra-
meworktoexaminetheperspectivesofeverydaycitizens.Itwillbeanimpor-
tantreferenceforscholarsandstudentsinterestedintheissueofracialpolitics
inLatinAmericaandbeyond.
Dr. Gladys L. Mitchell-Walthour is apolitical scientist inthe Departmentof
AfricologyattheUniversityofWisconsin–Milwaukee.Shewasthe2013–2014
LemannVisitingScholarattheDavidRockefellerCenterforLatinAmerican
StudiesatHarvardUniversity.In2016,shewaselectedVicePresidentofthe
Brazil Studies Association. She has coedited both Race and the Politics of
Knowledge Production: Diaspora and Black Transnational Scholarship in the
UnitedStatesandBrazil(2016)andBrazil’sNewRacialPolitics(2010).
CAMBRIDGE STUDIES IN STRATIFICATION ECONOMICS: ECONOMICS
AND SOCIAL IDENTITY
SeriesEditor:WilliamA.DarityJr.,DukeUniversity
The Cambridge Studies in Stratification Economics: Economics and Social
Identity series encourages book proposals that emphasize structural sources
of group-based inequality, rather than cultural or genetic factors. Studies in
this series will utilize the underlying economic principles of self-interested
behaviorandsubstantiverationalityinconjunctionwithsociology’semphasis
on group behavior and identity formation. The series is interdisciplinary,
drawing authors from various fields including economics, sociology, social
psychology, history, and anthropology, with all projects focused on topics
dealingwithgroup-basedinequality,identity,andeconomicwell-being.
BooksintheSeries
TheHiddenRulesofRace:BarrierstoanInclusiveEconomyAndreaFlynn,DorianT.
Warren,FeliciaJ.Wong,SusanR.Holmberg
The Politics of Blackness
RacialIdentityandPoliticalBehaviorinContemporaryBrazil
GLADYS L. MITCHELL-WALTHOUR
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www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107186101
DOI:10.1017/9781316888742
©GladysL.Mitchell-Walthour2018
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
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permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2018
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ISBN978-1-107-18610-1Hardback
ISBN978-1-316-63704-3Paperback
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Formyhusband,AnthonyWalthour,whohasalwaysbelievedinme
evenwhenIfeltdiscouragedandwhosespiritandsmileexudespositivity.
Iloveyou!

Contents
ListofFigures pageviii
ListofTables ix
ListofMaps xiii
Acknowledgments xiv
Introduction 1
1 Afro-BrazilianPoliticalUnderrepresentation 43
2 BlacknessandRacialIdentificationinContemporaryBrazil 93
3 NegroGroupAttachmentinBrazil 144
4 NegroLinkedFateandRacialPolicies 176
5 Afro-DescendantsPerceptionsofDiscriminationandSupport
forAffirmativeAction 194
Conclusion:TheRacializationofPoliticalEvents 215
Appendix 224
References 248
Index 263
vii
Figures
2.1 ProbabilityofClaimingaPretoorPardoIdentification
BasedonSkinColor page140
2.2 ProbabilityofClaimingaPretoorPardoIdentificationBased
onIncome 140
2.3 ProbabilityofClaimingaPretoorPardoIdentificationBasedon
colordiscrimination 141
5.1 Afro-DescendantsinLatinAmericawhohaveexperienced
discriminationinemployment,government,orpublicplaces 196
5.2 AverageskintoneofNegrosandMixed-RacePeopleinSelect
LatinAmericanCountries 201
viii
Tables
1.1 MonthlyFamilyIncome(USD)byCity page66
1.2 EducationbyCity 67
1.3 RespondentsWhoReferredtoRacismasaCauseforthe
UnderrepresentationofNegrosinPolitics 69
1.4 RespondentsWhoReferredtoSocialInequalityinAnswerto
UnderrepresentationofNegrosinPolitics 79
1.5 RespondentsWhoFaultNegrosforNegroUnderrepresentation
inPolitics 83
1.6 RespondentsCitingSlaveryasaReasonforPolitical
Underrepresentation 87
1.7 RespondentsCitingPoliticalPartiesasaCauseforAfro-
BrazilianUnderrepresentation 91
2.1 Afro-BrazilianWomenWhoIdentifyasNegraBasedonSkin
Color/PhysicalFeatures 99
2.2 Afro-BrazilianMenWhoIdentifyasNegroBasedonSkinColor
andPhysicalFeatures 102
2.3 Afro-BrazilianWomenWhoIdentifyasNegraBasedon
Ancestry 104
2.4 Afro-BrazilianMenWhoIdentifyasNegroBasedonAncestry 106
2.5 Afro-BrazilianWomenWhoIdentifyasNegraBasedon
Family/Community 108
2.6 Afro-BrazilianMenWhoIdentifyasNegroBasedonFamily 110
2.7 Afro-BrazilianWomenWhoIdentifyasNegraBasedon
PoliticalConsciousness 111
2.8 Afro-BrazilianMenWhoIdentifyasNegroBasedonPolitical
Consciousness 112
2.9 Afro-BrazilianWomenWhoIdentifyasNegraBasedonthe
NegroStruggle 114
ix
x ListofTables
2.10 Afro-BrazilianMenWhoIdentifyasNegroBasedontheNegro
Struggle 115
2.11 Afro-BrazilianWomenWhoBelieveAfro-BraziliansDoNot
IdentifyasNegroBecauseTheyAreAshamed 119
2.12 Afro-BrazilianMenWhoBelieveAfro-BraziliansDoNot
IdentifyasNegroBecauseTheyAreAshamed 121
2.13 Afro-BrazilianWomenWhoBelieveAfro-BraziliansDoNot
IdentifyasNegroBecauseBlacksAreSeenNegatively 123
2.14 Afro-BrazilianMenWhoBelieveAfro-BraziliansDoNot
IdentifyasNegroBecauseNegrosAreSeenNegatively 125
2.15 Afro-BrazilianWomenWhoBelieveAfro-BraziliansDoNot
IdentifyasNegroBecauseofRacism 127
2.16 Afro-BrazilianMenWhoBelieveAfro-BraziliansDoNot
IdentifyasNegroBecauseofRacism 128
2.17 Afro-BrazilianWomenCitingLackofConsciousnessasthe
ReasonAfro-BraziliansDoNotIdentifyasNegro 130
2.18 Afro-BrazilianMenCitingLackofConsciousnessastheReason
Afro-BraziliansDoNotIdentifyasNegro 131
2.19 Afro-BrazilianWomenWhoBelieveAfro-BraziliansDoNot
IdentifyasNegroBecauseofRacialMiscegenationorWhitening 133
2.20 Afro-BrazilianMenWhoBelieveAfro-BraziliansDoNot
IdentifyasNegroBecauseofRacialMiscegenationorWhitening 134
2.21 Afro-BrazilianWomenandMenExplainAfro-BraziliansWho
DoNotIdentifyasNegroasaStrategy 136
2.22 LogisticRegressionofChoosingPretoorPardoIdentification 139
3.1 Afro-BrazilianWomenandNegroLinkedFateDuetoRacial
Discrimination,NegroExclusion,andNegroSuffering 152
3.2 Afro-BrazilianMenWhoDemonstrateNegroLinkedFate
BasedonRacialDiscriminationorExclusion 157
3.3 Afro-BrazilianWomenandNegroLinkedFateduetoSuffering
orExclusioninGeneral 163
3.4 Afro-BrazilianMenandNegroLinkedFateduetoSufferingor
ExclusioninGeneral 163
3.5 Afro-BrazilianMenandWomenWhoAreLinkedtoNegros
BecauseTheyServeasaRoleModel 164
3.6 Afro-BrazilianWomenWhoDoNotDemonstrateNegro
LinkedFate 166
3.7 Afro-BrazilianMenWhoDoNotDemonstrateNegroLinked
Fate 167