Becoming Black Political Subjects

Abstract

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. This book explores this shift from color blindness to ethno-racial legislation in two of the most important cases in the region: Colombia and Brazil. Drawing on archival and ethnographic research, the book 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. The book 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. This book 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.

Du Bois and Brazil

“…In addition, Du Bois was following and influencing the literature about Brazil, which portrayed the country as a place without a color bar. In Brazil, during slavery, enslaved people's suicide rates and the number of those who died young were much higher than in the United States (Paschel 2016). Yet, the English literature about Brazilian slavery often portrayed it as less violent than other slavery systems due to the miscegenation that occurred in the country.…”

“…The country had the largest and longest-lasting slavery system in the Americas (Paschel 2016) and, after its abolition, Black people have continued in subaltern positions. Yet Brazil has been widely defined as a racial democracy by scholars, governments, and international agencies such as UNESCO (Hanchard 1994;Munanga 1999;Schwarcz 1993).…”

“…In other words, racial politics in Brazil switched from Black erasure to mulatto celebration. In addition, some elements of the African culture were incorporated into national symbols, although transformed in folklore, while Black cultural centers were simultaneously submitted to intense surveillance from the government (Alencastro 1985;Carneiro 2011;Consorte 1999;Nascimento 1978;Paschel 2016).…”

Organizing Twenty-First-Century Activism: From Structure to Strategy in Latin American Social Movements

“…In Argentina, unemployed workers simultaneously protested and bargained with government over important welfare benefits (Perez 2018;Rossi 2017). In Brazil, a wide variety of civic movements collaborated with government on policy while continuing to use sit-ins and protests to advance their agendas in areas such as environmental protection, land reform, education, women's rights, black rights, LGBTQ rights, and health policies (Alvarez 1990;Ewig 1999;Friendly 2016;Gibson 2019;Hochstetler 2000;Hochstetler and Keck 2007;Paschel 2016;Rich 2019;Tarlau 2019;Thayer 2010;Wolford 2010).…”

Mobilizing Blackness: Analyzing 21st Century Black Student Collective Agency in the University

“…For example, the fight for Black studies happened during a time in Black communities that was marked by ideas about Black self-determination and Black power, which deeply informed the epistemological foundations of Black studies and, subsequently, Black politics (Biondi, 2012;Claybrook, 2016). The political environment of a time-or the political field (Paschel, 2016)-plays a direct role in the development of political subjectivity, meaning that students are deeply moved by their environments to make social change happen, especially in racialized ways. In the second decade of the 21st century, the mass mobilization of Black students at over 86 colleges and universities represents the Movement for Black Lives impacting higher education (Black Liberation Collective, 2020).…”