Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T07:37:04.709Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

From “Racial Democracy” to Affirmative Action: Changing State Policy on Race in Brazil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2022

Mala Htun
Mala Htun*
Affiliation:
New School University
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

By analyzing the Brazilian government's surprise endorsement of affirmative action in 2001, this article explores how the state constructs race in society and how ideas drive policy change. After decades defending the myth of “racial democracy,” the state admitted to racism and endorsed an extreme form of affirmative action—quotas—for Afro-Brazilians in government service and higher education. Based on fieldwork conducted in 2002, this article explains the recent policy turnaround as a dialectic between social mobilization and presidential initiative framed within unfolding international events. The presidency of Fernando Henrique Cardoso nurtured a transformation in political action on race at the same time that the president himself initiated major shifts in official discourse; later, preparations for the World Conference on Racism, held in Durban, South Africa, in 2001, provoked national soul-searching on racial inequalities. The conference itself provided an occasion, and a moment of reckoning, for Brazil to jettison past policies and embrace a new approach. I conclude that ideas emerging from social networks, made salient by presidential interest, and legitimized by international agreements may account for discursive policy change, but that implementation of affirmative action will require attention to material interests and electoral incentives.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 39 , Issue 1 , 2004 , pp. 60 - 89
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 by the University of Texas Press

Footnotes

*

I am grateful to John Comaroff, Jorge Domínguez, Tim Power, and three anonymous LARR reviewers for comments on this article; to Gelson Fonseca, Jr. for help setting up interviews in Brazil; and to the PROLEAD program of the Inter-American Development Bank for supporting my research. All translations from interviews and other material are my own.

References

ANDREWS, GEORGE REID 1991 Blacks and Whites in São Paulo, Brazil, 1888–1988. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
APPIAH, ANTHONY 1997 “Race, Culture, Identity: Misunderstood Connections.” In Color Conscious: The Political Morality of Race, by Anthony Appiah and Amy Gutmann, 30–105. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
ARTICULAÇÃO DE ONGS DE MULHERES BRASILEIRAS 2001 “Cobertura da imprensa sobre a Conferência Mundial contra o Racismo.” Edição de 25 a 31 de agosto de 2001. Secretaria Executiva da Articulação de ONGs de Mulheres Brasileiras rumo à III Conferência Mundial contra o Racismo.Google Scholar
BARCELOS, LUIZ CLAUDIO 1999 “Struggling in Paradise: Racial Mobilization and the Contemporary Black Movement in Brazil.” In Race in Contemporary Brazil: From Indifference to Inequality, edited by Reichmann, Rebecca, 155–66. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press.Google Scholar
BOURDIEU, PIERRE, AND WACQUANT, LOÏC 1999 “On the Cunning of Imperialist Reason.” Theory, Culture, and Society 16, no 1:41–58.Google Scholar
BURDICK, JOHN 1998 “The Lost Constituency of Brazil's Black Movements.” Latin American Perspectives 98, no. 25 (January): 136–55.Google Scholar
CARDOSO, FERNANDO HENRIQUE 2001 “Discurso do Presidente da República, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, na cerimônia de entrega do Prêmio Nacional de Direitos Humanos—Palácio do Planalto,” 19 December 2001.Google Scholar
CARDOSO, FERNANDO HENRIQUE, AND IANNI, OCTÁVIO 1960 Côr e mobilidade social em Florianópolis: Aspectos das relações entre negros e brancos numa comunidade do Brasil Meridional. São Paulo: Companhia Editora Nacional.Google Scholar
CARMINES, EDWARD G., AND STIMSON, JAMES A. 1980 “The Two Faces of Issue Voting.” American Political Science Review 74, no. 1 (March): 78–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CARNEIRO, SUELI 2000 “Estratégias legais para promover a justiça social.” In Tirando a máscara: Ensaios sobre o racismo no Brasil, edited by Guimarães, Antonio Sérgio Alfredo and Huntley, Lynn, 311–24. São Paulo: Editora Paz e Terra.Google Scholar
CARNEIRO, SUELI n.d. “A conferência de racismo.” Unpublished paper. Photocopy.Google Scholar
CONRAD, ROBERT 1974 “Nineteenth-Century Brazilian Slavery.” In Slavery and Race Relations in Latin America, edited by Toplin, Robert Brent. Westport: Greenwood Press.Google Scholar
CORRÊA COELHO, RICARDO 2001 “Discriminação e política de cotas.” Jornal de Brasília, 21 December.Google Scholar
DATAFOLHA/FOLHA DE SÃO PAULO 1995 Racismo cordial: a mais completa análise sobre preconceito de cor no Brasil. São Paulo: Editora Ática.Google Scholar
DEGLER, CARL 1971 Neither Black Nor White: Slavery and Race Relations in Brazil and the United States. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
FERNANDES, FLORESTAN 1969 The Negro in Brazilian Society. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
FREYRE, GILBERTO 1986 The Masters and the Slaves. Translated by Putnam, Samuel. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
FRY, PETER 2000 “Politics, Nationality, and the Meanings of ‘Race’ in Brazil.” Daedalus 129, no. 2:83–118.Google Scholar
GOULD, STEPHEN JAY 1996 The Mismeasure of Man. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
GRAHAM, RICHARD 1999 “Free African Brazilians and the State in Slavery Times.” In Racial Politics in Contemporary Brazil edited by Hanchard, Michael, 30–58. Durham: Duke University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GRAVES, JOSEPH L. 2001 The Emperor's New Clothes: Biological Theories of Race at the Millennium. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
GUIMARÃES, ANTONIO SÉRGIO ALFREDO 1999 “Measures to Combat Discrimination and Racial Inequality in Brazil.” In Race in Contemporary Brazil: From Indifference to Inequality, edited by Reichmann, Rebecca, 139–53. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press.Google Scholar
HANCHARD, MICHAEL GEORGE 1994 Orpheus and Power: The Movimento Negro of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, Brazil, 1945–1988. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
HARRIS, MARVIN 1964 Patterns of Race in the Americas. New York: Walker and Company.Google Scholar
HARRIS, MARVIN, CONSORTE, JOSILDETH GOMES, LANG, JOSEPH, AND BYRNE, BRYAN 1993 “Who are the Whites? Imposed Census Categories and the Racial Demography of Brazil.” Social Forces 72, no. 2 (December): 451–62.Google Scholar
HASENBALG, CARLOS 1979 Discriminação e desigualdades raciais no Brasil. Rio de Janeiro: Graal.Google Scholar
HASENBALG, CARLOS, AND SILVA, NELSON DO VALLE 1991 “Raça e oportunidades educacionais no Brasil.” In Desigualdade racial no Brasil contemporâneo, edited by Peggy Lovell. Belo Horizonte: Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais/CEDEPLAR.Google Scholar
HECLO, HUGH 1978 “Issue Networks and the Executive Establishment.” In The New American Political System, edited by King, Anthony, 87–124. Washington: The American Enterprise Institute.Google Scholar
HENRIQUES, RICARDO 2001 “Desigualdade racial no Brasil: Evolução das condições de vida na década de 90.” IPEA texto para discussão no. 807. Brasília and Rio de Janeiro: Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada.Google Scholar
HERINGER, ROSANA 2001 “Mapeamento de ações e discursos de combate às desigualdades raciais no Brasil.” Estudos Afro-Asiáticos 23, no. 2:291–334.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HTUN, MALA 2003 Sex and the State: Abortion, Divorce, and the Family under Latin American Dictatorships and Democracies. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HTUN, MALA, AND JONES, MARK 2002 “Engendering the Right to Participate in Decisionmaking: Electoral Quotas and Women's Leadership in Latin America.” In Gender and the Politics of Rights and Democracy in Latin America, edited by Craske, Nikki and Molyneux, Maxine, 32–56. London: Palgrave.Google Scholar
JOHNSON, OLLIE 1998 “Racial Representation and Brazilian Politics: Black Members of the National Congress, 1983–1999.” Journal of Inter-American Studies and World Affairs 40, no. 4 (Winter): 97–118.Google Scholar
KECK, MARGARET, AND SIKKINK, KATHRYN 1998 Activists Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in Transnational Politics. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
LOVELL, PEGGY A. 1994 “Race, Gender, and Development in Brazil.” Latin American Research Review 29, no. 3:7–35.Google Scholar
LOVELL, PEGGY, AND WOOD, CHARLES H. 1998 “Skin Color, Racial Identity, and Life Chances in Brazil.” Latin American Perspectives 25, no. 3 (May): 90–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MARX, ANTHONY W. 1998 Making Race and Nation: A Comparison of the United States, South Africa, and Brazil. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
MINISTÉRIO DA JUSTIÇA 2001 Relatório do Comité Nacional Para a Preparação da Participação Brasileira na III Conferência Mundial das Nações Unidas Contra o Racismo, Discriminação Racial, Xenofobia e Intolerância Correlata. Brasília: Ministério da Justiça.Google Scholar
MINISTÉRIO DA JUSTIÇA 2002 Programa Nacional de Direitos Humanos. Brasília: Ministério da Justiça.Google Scholar
MITCHELL, MICHAEL 1985 “Blacks and the Abertura Democrática.” In Race, Class and Power in Brazil, edited by Fontaine, Pierre-Michel, 95–119. Los Angeles: Center for Afro-American Studies, University of California.Google Scholar
MÖRNER, MAGNUS 1967 Race Mixture in the History of Latin America. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company.Google Scholar
MURILLO, VICTORIA 2002 “Political Bias in Policy Convergence: Privatization Choices in Latin America.” World Politics 54, no. 4 (July): 462–93.Google Scholar
NASCIMENTO, ABDIAS DO, AND NASCIMENTO, ELISA LARKIN 2000 “Reflexões sobre o movimento negro no Brasil, 1938–1997.” Tirando a máscara: Ensaios sobre o racismo no Brasil, edited by Guimarães, In Antonio Sérgio Alfredo and Huntley, Lynn, 203–36. São Paulo: Editora Paz e Terra.Google Scholar
NOBLES, MELISSA 2000 Shades of Citizenship: Race and the Census in Modern Politics. Stanford: Stanford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
PARRA, FLAVIA C., AMADO, ROBERTO C., LAMBERTUCCI, JOSÉ R., ROCHA, JORGE, ANTUNES, CARLOS M., AND PENA, SÉRGIO D. J. 2003 “Color and genomic ancestry in Brazilians.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 100, no. 1:177–82.Google ScholarPubMed
PINTO DE GÓES, JOSÉ ROBERTO 2001 “Cotas raciais e políticas afirmativas.” O Globo, 14 December.Google Scholar
REICHMANN, REBECCA 1999 “Introduction.” In Race in Contemporary Brazil: From Indifference to Inequality, edited by Reichmann, Rebecca, 1–36. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press.Google Scholar
RISSE, THOMAS, AND SIKKINK, KATHRYN 1999 “The Socialization of International Human Rights Norms into Domestic Practices: An Introduction.” In The Power of Human Rights: International Norms and Domestic Change, edited by Risse, Thomas, Ropp, Stephen C., and Sikkink, Kathryn, 1–38. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ROLAND, EDNA 2000 “O movimento de mulheres negras brasileiras: desafios e perspectivas.” In Tirando a máscara: ensaios sobre o racismo no Brasil, edited by Guimarães, Antonio Sérgio Alfredo and Huntley, Lynn, 237–56. São Paulo: Paz e Terra.Google Scholar
SABOIA, GILBERTO, AND PORTO, ALEXANDRE JOSÉ VIDAL 2002 “The Durban World Conference and Brazil.” Unpublished paper.Google Scholar
SANTOS, HELIO 2001 A Busca de um caminho para o Brasil: a trilha do círculo vicioso. São Paulo: Editora Senac.Google Scholar
SHERIFF, ROBIN 2001 Dreaming Equality: Color, Race, and Racism in Urban Brazil. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
SILVA, HÉLIO JR. 2000 “Do racismo legal ao princípio da ação afirmativa: a lei como obstáculo e como instrumento dos direitos e interesses do povo negro.” In Tirando a máscara: Ensaios sobre o racismo no Brasil, edited by Guimarães, Antonio Sérgio Alfredo and Huntley, Lynn, 359–88. São Paulo: Editora Paz e Terra.Google Scholar
SILVA, NELSON DO VALLE 1985 “Updating the Cost of Not Being White in Brazil.” In Race, Class and Power in Brazil, edited by Fontaine, Pierre-Michel, 42–55. Los Angeles: Center for Afro-American Studies, University of California.Google Scholar
SKIDMORE, THOMAS 1985 “Race and Class in Brazil: Historical Perspectives.” In Race, Class and Power in Brazil, edited by Fontaine, Pierre-Michel, 11–24. Los Angeles: Center for Afro-American Studies, University of California.Google Scholar
SKIDMORE, THOMAS 1993 “Bi-racial U.S.A. vs. Multi-racial Brazil: Is the Contrast Still Valid?” Journal of Latin American Studies 25, no. 2:373–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SKOCPOL, THEDA 1992 Protecting Soldiers and Mothers: The Political Origins of Social Policy in the United States. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
SKOCPOL, THEDA, GANZ, MARSHALL, AND MUNSON, ZIAD 2000 “A Nation of Organizers: The Institutional Origins of Civic Voluntarism in the United State.” American Political Science Review 94, no. 3 (September): 527–46.Google Scholar
TARROW, SIDNEY 1998 Power in Movement: Social Movements and Contentious Politics. 2d ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
TELLES, EDWARD 1994 “Industrialization and Racial Inequality in Employment: The Brazilian Example.” American Sociological Review 59, no. 1 (February): 46–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
TELLES, EDWARD 1999 “Ethnic Boundaries and Political Mobilization among African Brazilians: Comparisons with the U.S. Case.” In Racial Politics in Contemporary Brazil, edited by Hanchard, Michael, 82–97. Durham: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
TELLES, EDWARD 2003 “U.S. Foundations and Racial Reasoning in Brazil.” Theory, Culture, and Society. (August)Google Scholar
TIÊ SHICASHO, SÔNIA 2002 Desigualdade racial: indicadores socioecônomicos—Brasil, 1991–2001. Brasília: Instituto de Pesquisa Económica Aplicada (IPEA).Google Scholar
TWINE, FRANCE WINDDANCE 1998 Racism in a Racial Democracy: The Maintenance of White Supremacy in Brazil. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
VIOTTI DA COSTA, EMILIA 1985 The Brazilian Empire: Myths and Histories. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar