Becoming Black Political Subjects: Movements and Ethno-Racial Rights in Colombia and Brazil

by Tianna S. Paschel

After decades of denying racism and underplaying cultural diversity, Latin American states began adopting transformative ethno-racial legislation in the late 1980s. In addition to symbolic recognition of indigenous peoples and black populations, governments in the region created a more pluralistic model of citizenship and made significant reforms in the areas of land, health, education, and development policy. Becoming Black Political Subjects explores this shift from color blindness to ethno-racial legislation in two of the most important cases in the Colombia and Brazil.

Drawing on archival and ethnographic research, Tianna Paschel shows how, over a short period, black movements and their claims went from being marginalized to become institutionalized into the law, state bureaucracies, and mainstream politics. The strategic actions of a small group of black activists―working in the context of domestic unrest and the international community's growing interest in ethno-racial issues―successfully brought about change. Paschel also examines the consequences of these reforms, including the institutionalization of certain ideas of blackness, the reconfiguration of black movement organizations, and the unmaking of black rights in the face of reactionary movements.

Becoming Black Political Subjects offers important insights into the changing landscape of race and Latin American politics and provokes readers to adopt a more transnational and flexible understanding of social movements.

328 pages, Hardcover

Published July 5, 2016

Reviews

[B Frizz]

read this pretty quickly for my social movements class but i really liked it! if i could give half stars this would get a 4.5 from me

[Nicolas]

Great! Read!

[Naomi]

I read this for a paper on Afro and Indigenous land rights in Colombia and was continuously impressed by the detail, organization, and argument.