A reprodução do racismo

Published in Brazil, Karl Monsma's book A reprodução do racismo: Fazendeiros, negros e imigrantes no oeste paulista, 1880-1914 has the bold objective of discussing race relations and social practices in Brazil. Monsma's rich and extensive research constitutes an important contribution to the study of Brazilian society and culture. Racism is the book's main focus, which he analyzes from the rather original perspective of the reproduction of racist habitus within different social groups.Our roots-be they Amerindian, European, African, or a mixture of these-were a crucial part of an intellectual and artistic movement in Brazil concerned with the construction of national identity. Those in the Brazilian social tradition sought through racial questions to construct a conciliatory foundation that avoided touching on race in a conflictive manner. The critiques that emerged against this tradition were disproportionate in that they sought to discredit authors and their works. I cite as an example the critiques of Gilberto Freyre's The Masters and the Slaves (1933), which was more concerned with demystifying racial determinism than with romanticizing racial relations or naturalizing white domination in the country. Despite this, controversies and discomfort have coalesced around treatments of race in Brazil.In the work under review Monsma debates the social practices related to the reproduction of racism, avoiding the risky exercise of macrosocial analysis. The work's theoretical and methodological foundations are relevantly supported, and the regions and time period on which it focuses are both pertinent and well presented. The methodological tools used by Monsma evince a lucidity and maturity indicative of a focused academic trajectory. His interpretation of practices and social habitus follows a clear path and demonstrates anthropological and sociological nuances, fluidly moving in an interdisciplinary fashion between different areas of academic research. Lucidity and courage are two of this book's principal attributes.The text shows the influence of Pierre Bourdieu's social thought. The reader will not find in this book tedious references to Bourdieu's work and justifications of the concepts deployed. However, an attentive reader will perceive the subtlety with which Monsma used the French sociologist's pertinent theories: I highlight the reproduction of racism and the social distinction strategies used by the social groups analyzed by Monsma. These groups distinguished themselves through different types of capital that they either accumulated or were denied. Symbolic conflict characterized these forms of capital and the habitus that each group occupied in the coffee economy and in social and labor relations. Important too is the concept of "racialized habitus" and its role in the reproduction of racism (p. 65).The work starts a unique debate regarding domination and the mechanisms of violence, real or symbolic, exercised by the plantation owners and social agents who historically dominated and possessed authority over black populations. The documentary work done here is rich in its presenting of the reproduction of hate and social stigmatization strategies used against blacks in the first decades of the postabolition period. The stories of lynching and other violent deaths of blacks make one think of the intolerant deeds of the hegemonic white population in the US South.Beyond the conflictive postslavery relationships of plantation owners and others with blacks, the work richly presents the relationship between plantation owners and Italian immigrants. The attempt to copy the social practices of slavery in these labor relations generated resistance and conflict. The practices of the slave owner's habitus that reproduced violence and intimidation were also reproduced in social relationships with immigrants. Monsma discusses the necessity of distinguishing by color as part of a racialized habitus. The book ends by arguing that the fight between Italian immigrants and the black population stemmed from the desire for self-affirmation based in demands for respect and social recognition. The Italian immigrants had an important form of capital in their favor: they were the immigrant elite.This work is like a fine wine that brings with it the smells and tastes acquired throughout the years. In some moments, the text has a repetitive quality; if Monsma had concerned himself less with buttressing his hypotheses, then the text may have flowed better. Despite this, the work constitutes an important contribution to Brazilian social thought, especially the study of Brazilian race relations

Habitus · Race, Identity, and Education in Brazil

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