From mestiço to white: refashioning racial identity in contemporary Brazil

ABSTRACT

The question of who is Black in Brazil has sparked controversial debate over the past three decades. Less frequently discussed, however, is ‘who is white?.’ Recently, new meanings behind racial categories in census data, affirmative action laws, and the fields of Black Feminism and Critical Whiteness Studies have unsettled white Brazilians’ understanding of their own racial identity, up until now hidden by the national discourse of mestiçagem . I investigate this unsettling by analyzing the narratives of five white female Brazilian researchers who critically recognize their racial identity and privilege. Highlighting how the spaces they occupy are racialized differently, I argue that the process of ‘becoming white’ among Brazilians in all-white social circles differs from those brought up in mixed-raced (Black-white) families. I suggest that whites raised in predominately white families understand themselves as a racial norm from a young age and that their white identity strengthens their ties to family. Conversely, whites raised in predominately mixed families show more confusion as to their racial identity and muddle through mestiçagem discourse to reach ‘white,’ which can, in turn, threaten a sense of belonging to their families.

KEYWORDS:

• Whiteness
• Brazil
• mestiçagem
• national identity
• family identity

Acknowledgements

All translations are mine.

1. Despite the interviewees saying they came from ‘mixed’ families, Corossacz (2014) clarifies that none of them mentions a Black person in the family, only in servile positions.

2. They also mentioned having indigenous ancestry. However, the prominent family members in their lives as children were white and Black.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Laura Rose Brylowski

Laura Rose Brylowski (she/her) is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Texas at Austin. Her current research investigates hegemonic representations and reenactments of slavery in spaces of entertainment (telenovelas and plantation tours) in Brazil.