Racism in a Racial Democracy

Racism in a Racial Democracy: The Maintenance of White Supremacy in Brazil is a book by anthropologist France Winddance Twine published by Rutgers University Press in 1997.[1]

Racism in a Racial Democracy: The Maintenance of White Supremacy
AuthorFrance Winddance Twine
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenreBrazil Race Racism
PublisherRutgers University Press
Publication date
1998
Pages176
ISBN978-0813523651

Twine investigated racism under the idea of racial democracy while using a small town Vasalia (renamed for the research), Rio de Janeiro as her research site in January 1992 and February 1994 as two separate periods. [1] The book revealed the idealization of racial democracy in Brazil with the reality of daily racism for Afro-Brazilians, and some Afro-Brazilians’ unawareness and avoidance of racism.[1]

Synopsis

Racism in a Racial Democracy: The Maintenance of White Supremacy in Brazil by France Winddance Twine explores the racism in Brazil from a sociological perspective.[1] Even though Brazil nowadays stresses racial democracy, which claimed that every race has equal opportunities, Afro-Brazilians are still experiencing racism in their daily life.[1] Twine researched in Vasalia (renamed the town), Rio de Janeiro to investigate the community dynamics between Afro-Brazilians and other non-Afro-Brazilians in the community, and she found a huge difference between them on perception of races and miscegenation, socioeconomic status, politics and social life.[1] Twine interviewed Afro-Brazilians in the community about their perception of racism, their physical appearance and their family history.[1] While interacting with Afro-Brazilians, Twine also interviewed some Euro-Brazilians and mixed race Brazilians on their perception on Afro-Brazilians, racism, perspectives on relationships and marriage.[1] Chapter one started with the community practices of racism based on white supremacist theories and structures.[1] Chapter two traced the history of Vasalia and the according political and economic development, when Portuguese and Italian immigrants were the coffee plantation owners and Afro-Brazilians were the slaves.[1] Chapter three focused on the accountability of racism by interviewing Afro-Brazilians on their perception of racism, and many Afro-Brazilians answered with the nonexistence of racism.[1] Chapter four explored the concept of racial democracy in Vasalia and the practices of white supremacy under the concept.[1] Chapter five analyzed miscegenation and whitening issues among Vasalians while many Afro-Brazilians, and many Afro-Brazilians embraced whiteness.[1] Chapter six explored Vasalians’ perception on relation to African descent and their family history on slavery. In chapter seven, Twine interviewed Afro-Brazilians professionals on their interpretation of racism.[1]

Critical Reception

Peter Wade's Book Review

Review by Peter Wade in the Journal of Latin American Studies 30 (1998): 668-670.[2]

Wade thinks the book Racism in a Racial Democracy was powerful because it addresses the problem of racism in Brazil under the ideology of racial equality.[2] Wade commented that Twine gave representative everyday racism which was compelling and detailed.[2] Twine also had the risk of falsely associating racial equality with racism.[2] The book effectively reveals the problem that Brazilians deny the existence of racism with the premises of Brazil is a mixed race country and socioeconomic status was the main element that sets differences.[2] Twine has successfully addressed racism as a problem in the Brazilian society when it was still a taboo.[2] Twine made effective communications with the Afro-Brazilians through her interview questions, as she revealed Afro-Brazilians' perception in the community and their thoughts on racism.[2] Twine tended to understand racism in Brazil from an American point of view, and showed Vasalians' false perceptions and unawareness of racism.[2] Wade would like to hear more comments about the town of Vasalia in a bigger picture, and its comparison with Bahia, where the majority of the population was Afro-Brazilians.[2]

Evandro Camara's Book Review

Review by Evandro Camara in the American Journal of Sociology 104 (1998): 911-913.[3]

Camara reviewed Twine's Racism in a Racial Democracy and impressed by how Twine addressed racism and white supremacy in the book, which raised readers' awareness.[3] However, Camara thought that the work displayed "the familiar sins of the revisionist scholarship."[3] White supremacy was not only a problem exist in Brazil, but it generally exists in the Western society.[3] Camara suggested that Twine should go on to identify particular aspects of the race problem across Brazil instead of narrowing in Vasalia, Rio de Janeiro.[3] While the book was addressing the problem of racism under white supremacy, Twine also portrayed a dual society in Brazil, which is made up of whites and non-whites with the ideology of whitening into one entity.[3] Camara also thought that the book should not simply generalize all the social problems into racism, as some might be related to socioeconomic status.[3] From Camara's perspective, Brazil from the book would be just a country that resembles the US.[3]

Bonilla-Silva's Book Review

Review by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva NACLA Report on the Americas vol. 35 issue 6 (May/Jun2002): 60.[4]

Racial problems brought attention to scholars, as in Latin America they stressed about their identity as a whole picture.[4] Bonilla-Silva complimented that the book was an advancement on the literature on race in Latin America.[4] Bonilla-Silva thought that Twine had successfully addressed the race issues in Brazil, as Brazil portrayed an ideal image of race equality and inequalities were led by class differences.[4] Twine had effectively provided how Afro-Brazilians thought about race in their daily life, which offered an insight of the problem on racism in a racial democracy background.[4] Bonila-Silva thought that the book lacked a theory on stratification in Brazil.[4] Bonilla-Silva recommended people to read the book as the book would be a powerful source of information to look deeply into Latin America's racial inequalities.[4]

References
  1. "Racism in a Racial Democracy". Rutgers University Press. Retrieved 2018-01-24.
  2. Wade, Peter (1998). "Review of Racism in a Racial Democracy". Journal of Latin American Studies. 30: 668–670.
  3. Camara, Evandro (1998). "Review of Racism in a Racial Democracy". American Journal of Sociology. 104: 911–913. doi:10.1086/210096.
  4. Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo (May 2002). "Review of Racism in a Racial Democracy". NACLA Report on the Americas. 35 (6): 60.
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