The ideology of the Brazilian nation and the Brazilian legal theory of racial discrimination

Bibliographic Data

ID2969684
AuthorsSeth Racusen (Anna Maria College, corresponding author)
Year2004
Volume10
Issue6
Pages775-809
Publication date2004-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Identities (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1350-4630 • E-ISSN: 1363-0296
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/1350463042000324274
OpenAlexW2028139591
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited27

This paper explores the role of the ideology of the nation upon the development of racial discrimination law and their joint influence upon judicial decision‐making in the case of contemporary Brazil. Brazil has historically claimed Brazilians to comprise a single race of cultures and persons ‘fused’ from Europe, Africa and the Americas, who were incapable of discriminating against each other. I show that this ‘fusionist’ ideology has insulated social practice from political and legal scrutiny and has constructed court disputes as contests over the Brazilianness of the principals rather than substantive evaluations of discriminatory allegations and responses. Brazilian law, steeped in the ideology that colour does not matter, prohibited overt practices thought to occur in the US rather than the subtler practices that occur in Brazil. Thus, the law seemingly proved the underlying claims of the ideology of the nation that Brazil did not have the North American problem. Compared with US colourblindness, Brazilian colourblindness provides a more compelling ‘fiction’ to both public and private actors and thereby casts a longer shadow over law and social practices. This paper compares the theories of discrimination in Brazil and the US and shows the narrowness of the Brazilian doctrine. Second, the paper traces the role of the ideology of the nation in the development of the Brazilian theory of racial discrimination as overt discrimination. Third, the paper analyses several court cases that illustrate judicial reliance upon the ideology of the nation in the application of the law and the interpretation of the principals' behaviour. The paper shows that the all‐encompassing conception of a ‘fusionist’ nation thoroughly penetrates legal theory and social practice. In applying the ideology of a ‘fusionist’ nation to evaluate the personalities of the principals, judges effectively insulate social practice from scrutiny and issue decisions that dramatize that ideology

Ideology · Political science · Politics · Racism · Sociology · Gender Studies · Law · Political Philosophy and Ethics

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