Brazil Race Relations

Brazil and the United States: so different and so alike. Brazil can be compared to the United States in several aspects. Both countries have a lot of things in common; however, we can point some differences too.

Professor Henry Louis Gates’ “Brazil: A Racial Paradise”, a documentary that focuses on the Afro-Brazilian population of Brazil, explored and exposed the concept of Racial Democracy; touted by the Brazilian government, it’s influence is largely overrated. (“Brazil: A Racial Paradise”, Black In Latin America, 2011, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Public Broadcasting Service, Web) While the institution of Racial Democracy has brought upon a certain amount of integration between Brazil and its 75 million Afro-Brazilians, the not so distant past-coupled with the realities of modern day racism-has left Afro-Brazilians alienated and discriminated against by mainstream society. However, since the abolition of slavery in 1888, coupled with the declaration of a Racial Democracy in the 1930’s and the leadership of influential Afro-Brazilians, Brazil has been quietly successful, albeit

The transatlantic slave trade was a primary structuring force of brazilian society. When Brazil became independent in 1822 from portugal, the slave trade was perceived as a dominant activity in the country's economy because it involved so much formation and investments. Slavery played a significant role in the structure of Brazil considering that the system of involuntary labor was the biggest and most extended of all the slave societies in the Atlantic world. This molded Brazilian ways of life including jobs, transportation, economic concerns, political factors and culture in many ways.

Perhaps many people may argue that both the US and Brazil have similar collections of ethnic and racial groups, that is a big minority of indigenous individuals, such as blacks and immigrants from Germany, Italy, and Asia. The presence of the minority groups in both nations was led by activities such as slavery and colonization during the19th-century (Wade, 2017). Chinese predominate the United States while Japanese predominate Brazil. Globalization and the rapid advancement in technology have demonstrated that technological revolution hasn't done much in altering the way of life and the belief of many people (Moran, 2014). With this in mind, I propose research on the differences in culture between Brazilians and Americans. This is because culture is social hence it is not an individual occurrence, it is a product of society, and it grows from social interaction. Culture is differentiable to us by comparison. Thus we should compare different cultures.

First and foremost, it is important to differentiate the perception of black and white race mixing in both the United States and Brazil. In the United States, the offspring produced between blacks and whites are considered black. However, the status of a child produced by a white mother is typically reflected by the status of the mother. Degler revealed that, “From this perspective, the most feared combination in unions between blacks and whites was the one in which the white women married a black men”. This is because during slavery, when a slave owner would impregnate his female slaves, the children of the slave would also become a slave, but if the mother is white, it is very unlikely that the child would become a slave. Consequently in Brazil, due to larger acceptance range of race mixing, the descendants of an African and European relation

Brazil Introduction You probably heard of Brazil but, do you know much about it? Brazil is a beautiful place or country, in South America. It’s great for tourists’ sites; it has amazing land features, and especially cool culture and history. Brazil has a tremendous amount of nature and folktale. Brazil was found actually, over 8,000 years ago. The Portuguese were the first European settlers to arrive there. The journey was led by Pedro Cabral who began in the 1500s. When they finally got there they found Native Americans living there. They were around the seven millions.

Beauty is skin deep but that’s only in theory especially when living in such a vanity obsessed society. The back history on the vision of beauty has so much turmoil and anguish attached to the word, it seems contradicting. This essay will delve into the depths of the foundation

Over the past several decades there has been an increase, in Brazil, of people whom self-identify as being black or Afro-Brazilian. What sparked the rise in these identities in Brazil? Was it possible material and intellectual gains or, sparked from activism, or from other possible factors. The black movement and affirmation of “black” identity came about much later in Brazil than in other countries such as the United States. In my opinion the most important factors for the rise in these identities are the material gains from the Quilombo Clause, the effects of affirmative action and quotas, as well as social activism.

The purpose of this paper is to recognize, study and analyze the race relations in Brazil. Race relations are relations between two groups of different races; it is how these two different races connect to each other in their environment. Since Brazil is racially diverse, this study is focused on

Afro-Paradise: Blackness, Violence, and Performance in Brazil by Christen A. Smith juxtaposes the images of Brazil’s black populations shown in the media with the ugly reality that they actually face in their everyday lives. From an outside perspective Brazil, especially Rio de Janeiro, is known as this tropical paradise with their beautiful beaches, beautiful people, and of course Carnaval do Brasil. When you Google images of the Carnaval you will see images of colorful floats, and beautiful women with “perfect bodies” wearing outfits that look like solely mardi gras beads to cover their its and bits. “Brazil, a republic that once declared itself free of racism, is now faced with the reality that racism does exist” (5). Brazil is known as a country with such a diverse and rich culture that everyone from other races live together in harmony. The representation of black bodies within Brazil can be seen with by the performers dancing on floats and with bodies being shot on the cement. Afro-paradise is a paradox. The oppressive economy uses its identity as an exotic, black “jovial playland” for tourists to come and experience the black culture and black people. Glorifying the black culture of Bahia reinforces Brazil’s racially

A group Sephardic Jews who arrived in 1654 was considered to the first Brazilians to enter the United States. Calculating the number of Brazilians that live in the Unites States is variable. With a scarce immigration history, they have been vaguely acknowledged by immigration organizations as “Latino,” “South,” and “Hispanic” or “Latin” American. The U.S. Census Bureau first listed a category for Brazilians residents in 1960, calculating fewer than thirty thousand. (Brazilian Immigration) By the 1980’s, only a few thousand arrived yearly. Brazilians are very united and if a family member comes from their country they will allow them to stay with them until they are economically stable to leave on their own.

Overall, based on a 1995 national survey, the results indicated that white was the most common category chosen, holding a 42%, while 32% of the population considered themselves morenos (brown). And despite their absence in the census categories, the terms Moreno and negro are central to the racial terminology and racial perspectives in Brazilians. According to Telles, these two terms increasingly capture a tension between a traditional Brazil of racial ambiguity with its presumed inclusion of nonwhites and a modern Brazil characterized by widely recognized racial exclusions and growing racial affirmation and resistance. The term Moreno is emblematic o the fluidity of the traditional Brazilian system, while Negro seeks to rescue pride in a black identity, which has long been stigmatized. Overall this chapter served to demonstrate that Brazilians clearly make racial or color distinctions that are necessarily delimited by cultural characteristics of those in particular racial

Culture Religion Not only did the Portuguese influence Brazil about languages, but also religion. The Portuguese brought over their religion which was Roman Catholic. About 64% of the population ascribes to the Roman Catholic faith. Other religions in Brazil included: other Catholic religions, Protestant, Christians, Spiritism, and others. Only 8% of the population ascribe to no religion of any kind (Central Intelligence Agency, n.d.).

Starting in 1501, white Portuguese men enslaved over five million Africans and brought them back to Brazil to work on sugar plantations, creating a power dynamic that has lasted for centuries. After nearly four hundred years of slavery, freed black men and women were left with no education, place to live, or family, placing them at an economic disadvantage from the beginning. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, following emancipation, white men began to procreate with indigenous and African women, creating a mixed or mulatto race, which led to the false identification of Brazil as a country with a “racial democracy.” However, darker-skinned individuals still remained at the bottom of the racial hierarchy, facing systems of social, economic, and educational discrimination. The racial inequalities, products of historical legacy, have resulted in a society that has severe racial stratifications and continues to subject Afro-Brazilians to prejudice, poverty, and police brutality. Although racial discrimination in contemporary Brazilian society is pervasive, particularly noticeable in the lack of economic and social mobility, discrimination is not a new phenomenon in Brazil, but rather the culmination of 500 years of historical inequities rooted in slavery, eugenics, immigration policy, the process of miscegenation, and the myth of racial “democracy”.

Additionally, Brazil is another society that is diverse in ethnic and cultural people. Brazil is mostly made up of, white, black (Afro-descendants) and mulatto (mixed white and black) people. In this society, the main language