Choosing Blackness in Brazil’s Racialized Democracy: The Endogeneity of Race in Salvador and São Paulo

Abstract

Racial identity is endogenous and should be considered a dependent variable in many contexts. Relying on quantitative methods, we examine why some Afro-Brazilians in Salvador and São Paulo choose black identities despite prevailing negative stereotypes in Brazilian society. Our first hypothesis, based on a survey conducted in 2008, is that those Afro-Brazilians with darker skin, higher socioeconomic status, greater experiences with discrimination, and who express a sense of black-linked fate are more likely to identify as preto or negro. Relying on a 2006 survey, our second hypothesis is that Afro-Brazilians in São Paulo rather than Salvador with higher socioeconomic status and who express a sense of black-linked fate are more likely to identify as black rather than nonblack. Our study contributes to an understanding of the changing racial dynamics in the United States and calls for greater consideration of racialized experiences and more research focused on collecting data consistently on an individual’s appearance.

Keywords:

• Afro-Brazilians
• political behavior
• blackness
• racial identification

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Michael Hanchard and Louise Seamster for reading versions of this paper and offering helpful feedback. We also thank Peter Wade, the Editor of LACES, and the anonymous reviewers. We thank the following research assistants in Brazil: Edson Arruda, Magda Lorena, Leon Padial, Rosana Paiva, Jacqueline Romio, Kledir Salgado, Jaqueline Santos, Thabatha Silva, Darlene Sousa, Ricardo Summers, Neusa, Gloria Ventapane, Gabriela Watson.

Notes

[1] ‘Bancada negra qause dobra no Congresso.’ Accessed July 30, 2014. http://congressoemfoco.uol.com.br/noticia.asp? cod_canal-21&cod_publicacao=36174.

[2] In an article published in Época on 17 July 2002, authored by Gerson Camarotti and Guillherme Evelin, the headline read ‘The Black Vote: Lula has the preference of the electorate of the black (negra) race, with 49 per cent of their votes, according to the Vox Populi survey.’ Jose Toledo authored a blog post on the newspaper, Estadão’s website, a popular newspaper in São Paulo titled ‘The color of the Vote,’ analyzing the 2010 Presidential Election of Dilma Rouseff and José Serra. Toledo predicted that Rouseff had a 15-point advantage over her opponent Serra due to preto and pardo support, whereas Serra’s advantage among whites and Asians was only five points.

[3] Patricia Pinho (2010) examines Afro-blocos in Salvador and Bahia, finding that many of them rely on a body-centric approach to black identity. For example, interviewees cite having ‘natural rhythm’ and wearing costumes that represent Africa as a part of embracing blackness.

[4] Qual é sua cor? (2006 and 2008 survey).

[5] According to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics in 2010, 48 per cent of the population identified as branco, 43 per cent as pardo, 8 per cent as preto, and less than 1 per cent identified as amarelo and indigenous.

[6] Murgia and Saenz (2002) challenge some of Bonilla-Silva’s ideas such as the three-tiered system. They argue that such a system always existed, which included different groups of whites and blacks on the bottom while today it is made up of whites, browns, and blacks.

[7] In 2007, Afro-Brazilians, which include pardos and pretos, outnumbered whites because of an increase in the number of Afro-Brazilians claiming a black (preto) identity (Werneck 2008).

[8] Scholars such as Cathy Cohen (1999) have challenged the notion of the relationship between black-linked fate and policy preferences. Dawson argued that black-linked fate predicted black support for certain policies. Cohen finds that in the African-American community, some members such as black gays are marginalized and that there is little support of black gay issues such as AIDS. In other words, African-Americans support certain racial issues as a group but other cross-cutting issues that affect blacks with multiple identities do not gain popular support. In addition, black gays and lesbians have different racialized experiences, since they are discriminated against by the larger society because of their race and sexuality and are marginalized by the greater African-American community because of their sexuality.

[9] Goldsmith, Hamilton, and Darity’s (2006) work on wage differences among black men demonstrates that those with lighter skin are not treated very differently from white men in US labor markets, which is unlike black men with darker skin. Telles’s (2004) work also finds differences in income between African-Americans with lighter and darker skin. Thus, it is not likely that experiences of discrimination are uniform even among African-Americans. The Brazilian case highlights the importance of considering the complexity of race, just as it is important for scholars of American racial politics to consider the varied experiences of African descended immigrants from Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa as well as US black slave descendants.

[10] We do acknowledge social psychologists such as Robert Sellers, who developed the multidimensional inventory of black identity instrument to measure how strongly African-Americans identify with being black. Ted Cross’s somewhat different measure seeks to do something comparable.

[11] Even with a skin color palette, interviewers were asked to identify the color of various people in magazines. In Salvador, in general, interviewers identified people as colors darker than interviewers in São Paulo. For example, President Barack Obama was identified as a darker skin tone in Salvador than in São Paulo. Respondents were asked about less well-known people in magazines such as people in advertisements and the same trend was true. All interviewers were trained and told to match skin tones as best as possible to those on the skin color palette. Nonetheless, we note these differences. In both cities, 35 per cent of respondents are in the middle range of skin tones from 4 to 6, and in Salvador, 61 per cent of the sample is in the darker skin tone range from 7 to 10. In São Paulo, 45 per cent are in the darker skin tone range.

[12] Our surveys only involve self-identified Afro-descendants. Although most respondents are affiliated with the Worker’s Party, it is unlike Cassilde’s (2008) study, which examines whites, blacks, and browns.

[13] Jà teve alguma expêrencia com o racismo?

[14] Em geral, você acha o que acontece aos negros no Brasil vai afeta o que acontecem em sua vida?

[15] In 2006, the minimum monthly salary was R$350.00 ($175 USD), and in 2008, it was R415.00 ($207.50 USD).

[16] To generalize the class standing of respondents, we report average monthly family incomes for various occupations. Our statistical analyses concern monthly family income, which combines all incomes of those working in the household. A maid has a monthly family income of 386 reais, a bus driver of 964 reais, an engineer of 5246 reais, and a construction worker 637 reais (see http://www.worldsalaries.org/brazil.shtml). Nonetheless, because of dramatic economic growth in Brazil, salaries for domestic workers have increased as more opportunities are available. In São Paulo in 2011, wages for domestic workers had risen by 8 per cent (see http://www.economist.com/node/21541717_).

[17] Você acredita que o que acontece com os negros afeta você?

[18] Our multinomial regression is not linear so we cannot run a 2sls regression to correct for endogeneity.

[19] Em geral, você acha o que acontece aos negros no Brasil vai afeta o que acontecem em sua vida?

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gladys Mitchell-Walthour

Gladys Mitchell-Walthour is at the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard University, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA (Email: [email protected]).

William Darity

William Darity Jr. is at the Department of African and African American Studies, Duke University, 243 Ernestine Friedl Building, 1316 Campus Drive, Box 90252, Durham, NC 27708, USA (Email: [email protected]).