Technocrats' Compromises

Defining Race and the Struggle for Equality in Brazil, 1970-2010

Bibliographic Data

ID4018014
AuthorsBrenna Marea Powell, Graziella Moraes Silva (0000-0003-3191-6022)
Year2018
Volume50
Issue1
Pages87-115
Publication date2018-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Latin American Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-216X • E-ISSN: 1469-767X
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0022216x17000797
OpenAlexW2743049628
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited45

This article focuses on census policy-making by analysing the decision-making processes behind the apparent stability of Brazilian racial categories within a context of multiple changes in racial politics and policies over the last four decades (1970-2010). Empirically, we rely on archival material, survey and census data, as well as key informant interviews with senior technocrats from the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics, IBGE). Our findings show the central role of technocratic actors in shaping and giving meaning to these categories in a context of uncertainty about the most valid approach to measurement. Their role is particularly evident in IBGE's early application of thenegrocategory to the non-white population and repeated rejection of themorenocategory. Beyond technical expertise, these census officials navigated various professional, political and ideological motivations. We develop the concept of technocratic compromise to capture census officials' decision-making process and underscore its importance to explaining census policy outcomes

Census · Compromise · Context (archaeology) · Geography · Ideology · Meaning (existential) · Political science · Politics · Population · Race (biology) · Social science · Sociology · Technocracy · Census and Population Estimation · Demography · Gender Studies · Law · Politics and Society in Latin America · Psychology · Public Administration

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