Contemporary Brazilian Negritude and Racial Mixture

    Moraes and Silva’s analysis of the responses of 160 Afro-Brazilians to questions regarding racial mixture, blackness, racial pride, and identity challenges the dominant narrative on racial mixture in Brazil and Latin America. Instead of seeing the emphasis on racial mixture among self-identified pretos or negros as evidence of an internalized oppression or desire to become white, they argue that the acceptance and tolerance of interracial marriage is part of Brazilian national identity and Brazilian negritude. Black Brazilians of lower and middle-class backgrounds by and large recognize ongoing racial discrimination, and express pride in their African origins, but only as black Brazilians. Furthermore, due to the longstanding history of racial mixture, many pretos are also multiracial, leading to many respondents linking racial mixture with Brazilian national identity. Thus, Moraes and Silva argue that Brazilian negritude and a continued emphasis on miscegenation are not mutual exclusive.

    In addition to adding nuance to decades of scholarship on racial mixture that portrayed it as an attempt to attain whiteness or further black oppression, this study highlights class differences in how black Brazilians identify. Working-class black Brazilians, for instance, are more likely to come from a background where relatives urged them to marry a white person, but middle-class respondents were mostly in favor of referring to themselves as negros rather than morenos or pardos, terms which could imply multiracial, or mixed identity. Moreover, both middle and lower class black Brazilians expressed pride in their black identity, but denied any categorical difference between blacks and whites, differing from South African black consciousness or French negritude. Furthermore, many respondents came from multiracial backgrounds but still self-identified as proud blacks, complicating assumptions about black and mixed identities in contemporary Brazil. Similarly, both lower and middle-class Afro-Brazilian respondents identified racial mixture as a solution for tackling racism, largely as a response to the stigmatization of blackness in Brazil. However, working-class respondents were more likely to link racial mixture with whitening while the middle-class connected it to a celebration of negritude.  This supports traditional views of social scientists regarding racial mixture as a thinly veiled attempt to whiten Brazil’s black population, although Moraes and Silva claim it was expressed only by a marginal proportion of working-class blacks. Indeed, they argue that this celebration of negritude and rejection of a white identity by self-identifying as negro is a trend among Afro-Brazilians that nevertheless operates within a broader framework of encouraging racial mixture.

    While nuancing the standard approach to analyzing Brazilian race relations, one must retain a certain degree of skepticism. For instance, should one willingly accept the responses of 160 Afro-Brazilians to a survey regarding race as representative of all of Brazil? The demographics of Rio de Janeiro resemble national total racial proportions, but race and concepts of negritude and racial mixture likely differ from that of Bahia, a northeastern region with a black and brown majority with possibly different class dynamics. In addition, the authors also possess a seemingly hostile attitude regarding “militants” and the presumed style of racial consciousness the authors seem to equate with African-Americans, Caribbean negritude, or South African black consciousness. The inherent value judgments regarding that form of racial consciousness seem contrary to the goals of the authors whose work supposedly resists imposing different forms of racial identity onto African-descended peoples living in other national contexts. They also fail to provide extensive analysis of gender dynamics that impact how male and female Afro-Brazilians navigated the murky waters of race relations in a society where racism runs rampant. Nothing beyond noting one black woman’s grandmother’s desire for her descendants to marry white or black women straightening their hair, or black men cutting their hair short to hide natural hair examines gendered notions of blackness. Thus, how likely is it for a black man to marry a white woman in Brazil, or how are black women perceived by Afro-Brazilian men when such an emphasis on interracial marriage is considered key to combating racism? Even if interracial marriages are accepted by a large majority, the authors do not investigate its impact on relationships among Afro-Brazilians.

They also cite studies that have shown that black and brown Brazilians, regardless of degrees of mixed racial identity, occupy a similar place socioeconomically, below that of whites. If both black and brown Brazilians are statistically the same based on indicators of wealth and status, perhaps this trend of Brazilian negritude can work to unite both groups of Afro-descended groups against white supremacy without othering or attacking whiteness and its role in Brazilian national identity. Consequently, black and brown Brazilian relations would resemble a common intergroup identity model wherein a broadly shared African origin in a broader context of white supremacy would lead to both groups forming an alliance. Moraes and Silva hint toward this in their data which shows a trend of multiracial Afro-Brazilians to identify as black or negro. However, if the goal of Brazilian negritude is to remain tied to interracial relationships and fluid racial identities, how could an alliance between black and brown Brazil last if members of each group continue to seek relationships with whites? The entire project of national integration and racial mixture as necessary for attaining the goal of racial democracy automatically limits the longevity of an alliance between blacks and pardos who, if they keep mixing with whites, would gradually have more and more reason to resist redistributive policies or a specific black identity.

This post is a brief commentary and review of the following article:

Moraes et al. 2012. "The multiple dimensions of racial mixture in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil". Ethnic and Racial Studies, 35: 382-399.