RACE RELATIONS IN BRAZIL

In: International social science bulletin, Band 9, Heft 4, S. 495-512

Abstract

The first attempt after abolition to incorporate the former slaves into the Brazilian community was made by trying to bring African into Portuguese civilization instead of trying to make a place for the Negro in the soc order. Because the Portuguese colonists had intermingled with the Moors, because they arrived in the New World without women & did not hesitate to have sex relations with coloured women, because the SE system obliged them to live among slaves, & because of the Portuguese-Catholic emphasis on soc good rather than puritanical strictness, Brazil eventually become the world's classic example of racial democracy. Unlike the US, Brazil has a class rather than a caste society. At the request of Arthur Ramos, UNESCO carried out a survey of the racial situation in Brazil. Its program was made up of 6 investigations. A survey of the Ru areas in north & north-east Brazil was carried out under the direction of Charles Wagley who arranged for 3 communities in the state of Bahia to be surveyed. This aspect of the program concluded that race is only one of the factors of soc stratification, & that little actual discrimination is practiced. Other information suggested that there is little diff in the character in race relations comparing northern & southern Brazil. A second part of the program was the survey of the mechanism of soc mobility in the city of Bahia by Thales de Azevedo. This study showed that although coloured people generally are members of the lowest stratum, vertical mobility is high. An inquiry into the influence of religion on ethnic behaviour in Recife indicated that although religion is important in the formation of personality & consequently in forms of racial behavior, it may be overruled by other societal forces. A survey of the racial situation in Rio de Janeiro by Costa Pinto led to the conclusion that to say there is no prejudice in Brazil is a refusal to face reality, even though the situation is not as bad as that of the US. Res on race relations in Sao Paulo was conducted by Roger Bastide & Florestan Fernandes. This analysis was supplemented by 3 soc psychol res projects. This UNESCO res succeeded in bringing about a great increase in the number of studies of ethnic relations. Most studies have been descriptive, not normative. As there is an AMERICAN DILEMMA there is a Brazilian Dilemma. The Brazilian is proud of the belief in the ideal of universal brotherhood & simultaneously practices racial discrimination. B. J. Keelev.