The multiple dimensions of racial mixture in Rio de Janeiro,Brazil: from whitening to Brazilian negritude

Abstract

The notion that racial mixture is a central feature of Latin American societies has been interpreted in different, if not strictly opposite, ways. On the one hand, scholars have presented it as evidence of weaker racial boundaries. On the other, it has been denounced as an expression of the illusion of harmonic racial relations. Relying on 160 interviews with black Brazilians, we argue that the valorization of racial mixture is an important response to stigmatization, but one that has multiple dimensions and different consequences for the maintenance of racial boundaries. We map out these different dimensions – namely, ‘whitening’, ‘Brazilian negritude’, ‘national identification’ and ‘non-essentialist racialism’ – and discuss how these dimensions are combined in different ways by our interviewees according to various circumstances. Exploring these multiple dimensions, we question any simplistic understanding of racial mixture as the blessing or the curse of Latin American racial dynamics.     

Making (mixed-)race: census politics and the emergence of multiracial multiculturalism in the United States,Great Britain and Canada

Abstract

During the same time period, the United States, Great Britain and Canada all moved towards ‘counting’ mixed-race on their national censuses. In the United States, this move is largely attributed to the existence of a mixed-race social movement that pushed Congress for the change – but similar developments in Canada and Britain occurred without the presence of a politically active civil society devoted to making the change. Why the convergence? This article argues that demographic trends, increasingly unsettled perceptions about discrete racial categories, and a transnational norm surrounding the primacy of racial self-identification in census-taking culminated in a normative shift towards multiracial multiculturalism. Therein, mixed-race identities are acknowledged as part of – rather than problematic within – diverse societies. These elements enabled mixed-race to be promoted, at times strategically, as a corollary of multiculturalism in these three countries.     

Positionings of the black middle-classes: understanding identity construction beyond strategic assimilation

This paper explores the identities of Britain’s black middle-classes. Drawing upon interviews with seventy-two participants, I theorize a ‘triangle of identity’. This triangle emphasizes how black middle-class identities are constructed within the dynamics of three poles. Firstly, there is the class-minded pole whereby class comes to the fore as a conceptual scheme; secondly, there is the ethnoracial autonomous pole whereby ‘race’ is central to one’s identity and whiteness is actively resisted; and lastly there is the strategic assimilation pole, where one continually moves between classed and racialized spheres of action. This tripartite approach to identity builds upon previous research by further exploring the social, cultural and phenomenological distinctions within Britain’s black middle-classes.     

Inflective and reflective whiteness in the sociology of race and ethnicity: a comment on an integrative framework for the field

Zulema Valdez and Tanya Golash-Boza offer an integrative framework for the sociology of race and ethnicity to bridge a divide undergirding different, yet related perspectives in the field. Their work provides an initial roadmap for linking the cultural perspectives often taken in the study of ethnicity to the structural perspectives utilized in the study of race. The authors put these perspectives in dialogue with one another to elucidate the strength of integrating commonly used approaches in each area, while avoiding the pitfalls of relying only on one paradigm. Behind much of sociology’s theoretical developments to understand racial and ethnic groups’ experiences in US society, and in relation to global discussions of race and ethnicity as well, are influences of identity and ideological processes inflected and reflected by whiteness. This comment reflects on how these processes can shape future conversations considering the intertwined cultural and structural processes framing group experiences and life chances.     

Changing racial boundaries and mixed unions: the case of second-generation Filipino Americans

I examine an understudied topic of intermarriage – nonwhite mixed unions. Drawing on a study of second-generation Filipino Americans, I compare how respondents in inter-ethnic (those partnered with other Asians) and nonwhite interracial (i.e. Latino, black, and non-Asian bi-racial) unions perceive racial boundaries, or their ‘racial schemas’. I argue that mixed unions can change how partners view racial boundaries. Drawing on phenotype, culture, and power position, both inter-ethnically and nonwhite interracially partnered respondents viewed themselves as different from whites. However, they differed in how they constructed nonwhite boundaries. Respondents in inter-ethnic unions drew on their Asian identity to distinguish themselves from Latinos and blacks, while informants in nonwhite interracial unions highlighted their Filipino identity to distance themselves from East Asians and align themselves with Latinos and blacks. These findings show that marriage affects racial boundary development and that mixed unions impact individuals’ racial incorporation.     

Favouritism in the motor system: social interaction modulates action simulation

The ability to anticipate others'' actions is crucial for social interaction. It has been shown that this ability relies on motor areas of the human brain that are not only active during action execution and action observation, but also during anticipation of another person''s action. Recording electroencephalograms during a triadic social interaction, we assessed whether activation of motor areas pertaining to the human mirror-neuron system prior to action observation depends on the social relationship between the actor and the observer. Anticipatory motor activation was stronger when participants expected an interaction partner to perform a particular action than when they anticipated that the same action would be performed by a third person they did not interact with. These results demonstrate that social interaction modulates action simulation.     

Exploring the emergence of a biojet fuel supply chain in Brazil: An agent‐based modeling approach

The aviation industry accounts for more than 2% of global CO₂ emissions. Biojet fuel is expected to make an essential contribution to the decarbonization of the aviation sector. Brazil is seen as a key player in developing sustainable aviation biofuels owing to its long‐standing experience with biofuels. Nevertheless, a clear understanding of what policies may be conducive to the emergence of a biojet fuel supply chain is lacking. We extended a spatially explicit agent‐based model to explore the emergence of a biojet fuel supply chain from the existing sugarcane–ethanol supply chain. The model accounts for new policies (feed‐in tariff and capital investment subsidy) and new considerations into the decision making about production and investment in processing capacity. We found that in a tax‐free gasoline regime, a feed‐in tariff above 3 R$/L stimulates the production of biojet fuel. At higher levels of gasoline taxation (i.e., 2.46 R$/L), however, any feed‐in tariff is insufficient to ensure the production of biojet fuel. Thus, at these levels of gasoline taxation, it is needed to introduce regulations on the production of biojet fuel to ensure its production. Given the current debate about the future direction of the biofuel policy in Brazil, we recommend further research into the effect of market mechanisms based on greenhouse gas emissions on the emergence of a Brazilian biojet fuel supply chain.     

Who's invited to the (political) party: race and party politics in the USA

ABSTRACT

From the political behemoths of the Democratic and Republican Parties, to the Civil Rights Era racially progressive Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and reactionary American Independent Party, to the contemporary third party Green and Libertarian Parties, party politics in the USA has a long and storied relationship to the reproduction and contestation of racial domination. Recent works illuminate the strategic use of racial discourse by major party political elites, their deployment of racialized political platforms, and the relationship of these phenomena to power dynamics and racial interests but have yet to fully move beyond the two-party system and engage with innovations in political and cultural sociology. We outline openings for an empirically-grounded sociology of political parties that would reveal the micro- and meso-level features of racialized party politics and the operations of discursive and performative power within both major and minor political parties.     

From Sub- to Super-Citizenship: Sex Hormones and the Body Politic in Brazil

Sex hormones in Brazil are mobilised as modes of regulatory control and to discipline subjectivites. Their packaging effectively differentiates between two forms of citizenship. The first, available to those with private health, is founded on notions of personal autonomy, individual choice and self-enhancement, while the second frames decisions in terms of the individual's moral responsibility to the wider collectivity. Here, technical and biomedical interventions on middle-class bodies have personalising tendencies, while those effected on the bodies of the urban poor can be read as modes of inclusion through standardisation. Personalisation, in the Brazilian sense, concerns the attribution of privileges which place a person above the undifferentiated mass of individuals. The paper critically engages with approaches to bio-citizenships developed in contexts where biological inclusion is predicated on patient activism and shows how, in Brazil, complying with medical regimes is an integral part of constituting oneself as a citizen     

Xenomorphism, bioimmuration, and biologic substrates: an example from the Cretaceous of Brazil

Lopha ramicola Beurlen, 1964, from the Upper Cretaceous of Brazil is illustrated as an example of xenomorphism and bioimmuration on an unknown, possibly botanical, substrate not preserved in the fossil record. The shells preserve a sharp negative replica of the biologic substrate on the attached valve and a protruding positive replica, including a geometric pattern of nodes, on the unattached valve.     

Intensification of cattle ranching production systems: socioeconomic and environmental synergies and risks in Brazil

Intensification of Brazilian cattle ranching systems has attracted both national and international attention due to its direct relation with Amazon deforestation on the one hand and increasing demand of the global population for meat on the other. Since Brazilian cattle ranching is predominantly pasture-based, we particularly focus on pasture management. We summarize the most recurrent opportunities and risks associated with pasture intensification that are brought up within scientific and political dialogues, and discuss them within the Brazilian context. We argue that sustainable intensification of pasturelands in Brazil is a viable way to increase agricultural output while simultaneously sparing land for nature. Since environmental degradation is often associated with low-yield extensive systems in Brazil, it is possible to obtain higher yields, while reversing degradation, by adopting practices like rotational grazing, incorporation of legumes and integrated crop-livestock-forestry systems. Technical assistance is however essential, particularly for small- and medium-scale farmers. Sound complementary policies and good governance must accompany these measures so that a ‘rebound effect’ does not lead to increased deforestation and other adverse social and environmental impacts. It is also important that animal welfare is not compromised. Although the discussion is presented with respect to Brazil, some aspects are relevant to other developing countries.     

Two new species of Parapentaneura (Diptera: Chironomidae: Tanypodinae) from Brazil,with keys to the males and immature stages

Two new species of Parapentaneura Stur, Fittkau et Serrano, 2006 (Diptera: Chironomidae: Tanypodinae) from southeastern Brazil are described and figured as male, pupa and larva: P. brunnescens and P. flavescens. Keys to the males, pupae and larvae of known species of Parapentaneura are provided.

http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:E6860EBE-B781-4DDA-9650-6E6EA3A0309E     

Complicating the triangle of race,class and state: the insights of black feminists

This article complicates Wacquant's three-sided schema of race, class and state by adding a focus on gender, the experiences of black women, and a black feminist intersectional analysis. Welfare retrenchment in the USA relied on stereotypes of black women, especially the ‘Welfare Queen’, that were at once sexist and racist and implemented policies targeted specifically at them as the vilified beneficiaries of state largess. Attributing social inequality to black women's childbearing furthers race, gender and class oppression in the context of neo-liberalism by legitimizing intensified deprivation and surveillance. A focus on the regulation of black mothers brings to the fore the child welfare system as a critical institution of social supervision, on a par with workfare and prisonfare. A black feminist analysis of the intersection of welfare, prison and foster care in the systemic punishment of black mothers and of strategies for resistance illuminates how racism and neo-liberalism operate together in the USA.     

Mycorrhizal status of some plants of the Araucaria forest and the Atlantic rainforest in Santa Catarina, Brazil

 In Brazil, the Araucaria forest and the Atlantic rainforest are two threatened ecosystems, with 10% or less of their original areas presently existing. To assess the mycorrhizal status in these forests, roots of 29 native species, belonging to 19 families, were collected throughout the year from different regions of Santa Catarina, Brazil. Roots were washed, and then cut in a cryo-microtome to seek ectomycorrhizal colonization. Other roots were stained before being examined for vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizas (VAM). Patterns of colonization were identified and photographed. All plants presented evidence of vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization. No evidence of ectomycorrhizal colonization was found. Vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization patterns varied from single intracellular aseptate hyphae, coils, and/or appressoria, to vesicles and/or arbuscules. Results confirmed that VAM hosts are predominant in South American forests while ectomycorrhizas are extremely rare even among genera known as ectomycorrhizal in other regions of the humid tropics. Accepted: 27 August 2000     

Macroalgae of a stream in southeastern Brazil: composition,seasonal variation and relation to physical and chemical variables

Macroalgal seasonality was studied monthly in a second-order stream in the north-west of São Paulo State, S.E. Brazil. Seasonal variation was based on frequency and percentage cover. Seven species were found during the study period, three of which (Chantransia stage of Sirodotia delicatula, Homoeothrix juliana and Klebsormidium subtile) were encountered throughout the year and showed well-defined seasonal patterns as well as the highest value of frequency and percentage cover. Chantransia and H. juliana dominated in summer and fall, while for K. subtile winter was the most favourable period. The remaining species (Oscillatoria agardhii, Microcoleus subtorulosus, Oedogonium sp. and Chaetophora elegans) had no clear seasonal pattern, in addition to their low values of frequency and percentage cover. Individually, K. subtile correlated with higher number of physical and chemical variables (oxygen, pH, precipitation, temperature, daylength, conductance and turbidity) than Chantransia and H. juliana (discharge and depth). Principal component analyses revealed that no single variable was responsible for the macroalgal seasonal dynamics. The variables most closely related to seasonal variation of the macroalgal community were daylength, precipitation, discharge, turbidity and dissolved oxygen. Precipitation and flow were suggested as key factors in determining seasonality of the macroalgae.     

Governance of indigenous policy in the neo-liberal age: indigenous disadvantage and the intersecting of paternalism and neo-liberalism as a racial project

Thinking about the governance of Indigenous poverty as an economic, social and racial project, the paper offers a way of understanding the dynamics of Indigenous policy formation in Australia in the neo-liberal age as what Howard Winant first coined a racial formation. In providing this analysis, this paper sits alongside a small, but growing body of work that reveals the racialized effects of governing through poverty in the neo-liberal age.