Forms of Systematizaton of the Sociology of Race Relations in Brazil

Abstract

Throughout their training as researchers and teachers, academics working with race relations assimilate a canonical history of the production in the field. With some variations, this production is usually organized around a narrative that begins with the reception of scientific racism in Brazil, then goes on to formulate the culturalist approach and the thesis of ‘racial democracy’ and, finally, mentions the ruptures that led to the recognition and investigation of patterns of racism and discrimination in Brazil. This article presents a synthesis of this history and then interrogates it from different angles and perspectives. To achieve this objective, it turns to interpreters of the sociology and historiography of race relations to reveal how certain theoretical and methodological reorientations in the field, along with national and international social changes, are connected to the different questions raised with regard to the phenomenon of racism in Brazil.