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Racial Inequality In Brazil

Decent Essays

Towards the end of the 19th century, immigration to Brazil began to rapidly increase. The demand for coffee continued to increase, and the coffee production industry expanded due to an influx in immigrants from Japan, Portugal, Spain, Italy, as well as several other European countries. Brazil was a divided nation, lacking a unified population or shared culture. The goal of allowing an influx of European immigrants into the country was to conform to European culture, and “civilize” Brazil. Essentially, Brazil had desires to “whiten” the population. The largely black, and Mulatto population quickly began to transform into predominantly white. Racial inequality and discrimination marked Brazil, and created distinct divisions amongst the population. Following abolition, Afro-Brazilians had immense difficulty in defining their own place in Brazilian society. Prior to the 1980s, racist attitudes as well the intention of Westernizing Brazil, made it challenging for Afro-Brazilians to achieve economic or social mobility. Beginning in the 20th century, efforts to diminish racial inequality became increasingly necessary to Brazil. Afro-Brazilians have faced severe inequity post abolition, however in recent decades the eradication of racial inequality has become imperative. Scientific racism emerged in Brazil from France, and was rooted from the philosophy positivism. Positivism was an ideology that declared any rational observation or idea can be scientifically, logically, or

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