Blackness Without Ethnicity: Constructing Race in Brazil

by Livio Sansone

Blackness Without Ethnicity draws on fifteen years of his research in Bahia, Rio Suriname, and Amsterdam. Sansone uses his findings to explore the very different ways that race and ethnicity are constructed in Brazil and the rest of Latin America. He compares these Latin American conceptions of race to dominate notions of race that are defined by a black-white polarity and clearly identifiable ethnicities, formulations he sees as highly influenced by the US and to a lesser degree Western Europe. Sansone argues that understanding more complex and ambiguous notions of culture and identity will expand the international discourse on race and move it away from American dominated notions that are not adequate to describe racial difference in other countries (and also in the countries where the notions originated). He also explores the effects of globalization on constructions of race.

Genres: Race

256 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2002

Reviews

[Rushay Booysen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has multi-layers of complexity in bringing about the understanding of Blackness in Brazil.Coming from a Mixed race population i can see alot of similarities.I started becoming more interested in the discussion of mixed identity and how it plays out in various communities throughout the world.For so long the U.S prototype of race definition was used in communities outside of the states that i felt a need to get a understanding of the issues faced.A very long read but helpful in many ways

[Naomi · Rating 3 out of 5]

The ethnicity and cultural lens was an interesting way to look at Brazil's race relations. However, while I found many of the globalization and generational arguments interesting, they seemed somewhat outdated in today's more globalized world with yet another youth generation.