UNESCO

Pate 6. AUGUST-SEPTEMBER
1952

AN INQUIRY INTO RACE

RELATIONS IN BRAZIL

by Dr. Alfred (/Jf

HY has Unesco undertaken a sociological inquiry into racial relations were not as harmonious as many Brazilians and foreigners
race relations in Brazil ? This question has often been liked to believe.
asked, for it comes as a surprise to some people that Yet if even no discordant note had been sounded, the existing harmony
an international organization should choose for its study
of inter-racial relations a country which is considered would still have needed clarification and explanation by concrete examples.
to have no urgent problems of this kind, People are It is the scientist's duty to discover which factors have so far preserved
so accustomed to seeing efforts being made to relieve Brazil from the bitter fruits of racial discrimination.
critical situations that t-n4 :they
ll+ thou I"'Q'nnnt
cannot nnÑø : rC
understand why! t. a
t. :more
20nñ or
Tlr'hu
lessð........
har- nT"ð nor løcCit !was
Thus n ! : in
lJ--order to draw a lesson from the case of Brazil that Unesco
monious state of affairs has need of attention. entrusted to different teams of sociologists, anthropologists and psycholo-
Even the purpose of this inquiry has caused a certain amount of alarm gists the task of completing existing knowledge by making studies of other
among people who fear it might. have repercussions on the very situation areas and different social groups.
Unesco is trying to analyze and describe."Beware,"they say,.'of making These investigations extended from the Amazon region to the industrial
the Brazilians conscious of racial differences to which at present they area of Sao Paulo and covered varying sections of the community ranging
apparently attach little importance. Take care not to arouse by indiscreet from populations living in sertao (backlands) villages to members of uni-
questioning the sort of antagonisms which are always ready to flare up." versIty circles.
Such remarks, even if made seriously, have no careful thought behind Brazilian authorities and scientific centres gave Unesco their whole-
them, for the social sciences are not able, at present at least, to exercise hearted support, knowing that their country's reputation had nothing to
a direct and immediate influence on ideas which have taken root since fear from such research. The few shadows on the picture only help to
centuries. It is quite natural, however, for people to express surprise intensify the light which suffuses it.
that the study of race relations in Brazil should be part of Unesco's
campaign
;t--
-------o against
-.....-------.
racial a...
prejudices and discrimination. Unesco's inquiry has been of a purely sociological and psychological cha-
racter, that is, it has dealt with present-
It is particularly important to explain day social realities, while historical
the reason for this choice since the questions have been given only a minor
gravity of racial conflicts in other parts place. Nevertheless we should not for-
of the world would seem to call for an get that the racial attitudes found in
entirely different approach. Lastvarious
year, social,
Unescoeconomic,
undertook cultural and psychological
a full, on-the-spot inquiry factors-
into the Brazil spring from a long historic tra-
both favourable and unfavourable-which condition race dition. They show us that the attitude
But it was not in a spirit of escap- relations in Brazil today. The reasons why a country like Brazil,
ism or with the desire to undertake of the Iberian peoples towards the slave
an easy task that Unesco embarked on which has been regarded by sociologists and students of race rela- differed greatly from that of other
this analysis of Brazilian behaviour in tions as a remarkable example of racial harmony, was chosen for colonial powers.
matters of race. Innumerable studies Unesco's"pilot survey"rather than some other country in which Thus, clauses favourable to slaves
have already been made of racial dis- racial tensions are more bitter, are explained on this page by have always existed in Spanish and
crimination in all its forms. Whole Dr. Alfred Métraux, of the Race Relations Division of Unesco. In Portuguese laws and the laws them-
libraries could be filled with books and order to avoid giving this survey too local a character, the most repre- selves have aimed at helping slaves
articles devoted to descriptions and sentative regions throughout Brazil were included, and the task win their freedom. Such clauses reflect
analyses of racial prejudice and its entrusted to a number of different scientific groups and individuals the will of the church which, as early
effects. as the 16th century, defended the In-
from Brazil itself and from abroad. The survey included direct
In the United States alone, hundreds contact and case studies of the attitudes towards racial problems dians and the Negro slaves as human
of organizations and public and private - particularly towards the Negro and his position in the social scale- beings. However miserable was the lot
institutions concern themselves with of the slave in Brazil, he was never at
problems arising from racial discrimi- of the population of four large metropolitan areas of Brazil : Sao any time reduced to the level of an ani-
nation in the hope of solving them Paulo, the fastest growing city not only of Brazil but of all Latin mal, and once freed he could aspire to
through scientific methods. Again, the America ; Rio de Janeiro, the federal capital and a large industrial joining the community of free men,
fierce tensions which racial antagonism centre ; Bahia (also called Salvador, or Salvador da Bahia), the great and thus begin to rise in the social
provokes in South Africa form the sub- Negro metropolis of Brazil ; and Recife, capital of the arid State of scale..",
ject of an abundant and ever-increas- Pernambuco, in the north-eastern hump of the country. The ques-
ing literature. tion of race relations in rural Brazil-a subject that up to now has Debt to former slaves
It would have been extremely diffi- been largely neglected-was also undertaken by a Unesco team in
cult, therefore, for Unesco to find new a series of first-hand case studies in representative communities of
facts to add to those already assembled, mountainous Central Brazil, the Amazon region, the arid backlands j a country like Brazil of a large
and it is doubtful whether supplement- THOSE who deplore the presence in
(sertao) of the north-east, and the plantation area of the Bahian area. minority of coloured people too
ary inquiries could have thrown new easily tend to forget the role which the
light on these problems that have been The articles published on the following pages present a picture of
what the scientists conducting the Unesco survey found to be the Indians and Negroes have played in the
studied and discussed so often. growth of Brazilian civilization. As
The rare examples of harmonious state of racial attitudes in Brazil today. Except for the article on the
many historians have already pointed
race relations have not, however, place of the Negro in Brazilian history, by Gilberto Freyre-author of out, the Brazilian nation would have
received the same attention either from "The Masters and the Slaves", a monumental study of the develop- had an entirely different character
scientists or the public in general. Yet ment and evolution of the patriarchal society in Brazil-the articles were it not for the African contribu-
the existence of countries in which presented in this issue were written by the scientists who have played tions which it owes to its former slaves.
different races live in harmony is itself a leading role in Unesco's survey. The work of the Unesco team
an important fact capable of exercising Can there be any doubt that this
on race relations in rural Brazil is being published by Unesco in book contribution by the Negro has singu-
a strong influence on racial questions
in general. form this year under the title"Class and Caste in Rural Brazil", larly enriched the social, religious and
edited by Dr. Charles Wagley, of Columbia University, New York. artistic traditions of a country now in
One of the basic dogmas of racialism The studies and findings of the other teams will be published by the course of demonstrating its power-
is that men of different races cannot ful originality and of setting up a new
mix without condemning themselves to Unesco within the next two years. This complete up-to-date study of
moral and physical decadence. the Negro and race relations in Brazil will total at least six volumes. type of civilization ? To be astonished
that a Negro or a mulatto can be
Those who believe this declare that talented and rise to a position of
complete segregation is the only importance
. -.. is to
1......... :--..... express an unconscious
+..................... \..' ; 1' ; +........,.. of : +1-....... h
solution for countries inhabited by two different races, for, they say, there racialism, as well as to cast doubt on the innate capabilities of the black
must be a congenital incompatibility between human beings whose skins race.
are of a different colour or whose noses have a different shape. When we speak of the debt owed by Brazil to its coloured citizens, we
If we can show, by one or more concrete examples, that this argument, are not thinking of those of its distinguished men who are wholly or
or more precisely this belief, is false, the injustices and sufferings which partly Negro. More significant is the wider contribution of the Negro
segregation policies inflict on members of the so-called"inferior"races civilizations superimposed on that of the Portuguese by millions of slaves
can no longer be justified. imported from Africa.
The colonization of Brazil has been an adventure shared in by whites
and Negroes who even against their inclination have worked closely
Is the harmony real or apparent ?
together to set up a new social environment. The charm of Brazilian
life derives to a certain extent from those African traditions which have
creed. It is not therefore a waste of time to learn more about a social moulded the national character.
THE environment
case of Brazil offers
which so the strongest
strongly argument
refutes everythingagainst
that this racialistof
theorists Another lesson which can be drawn from Brazil's example is the large
racialism and politicians who support them continue to affirm. part whieh economic factors play in the formation of racial prejudices.
Rapid urbanization in Brazil has upset the relations between whites
The generally favourable impression produced by Brazil's race relations and Negroes in certain large towns, and has provoked conflicts which
has for many years been remarked on by travellers and sociologists who threaten to become serious.
have been greatly surprised to find there such different attitudes from The rise of a rural working class, accompanied by growing competition
those observed in other parts of the world. Brazil has, in fact, been hailed between immigrants and the large numbers of coloured people who are
as one of the rare countries which. have achieved"racial democracy".
moving into the industrial centres, could destroy this"racial democracy"
But science demands more than general observations. It wants to know if the racialist feelings they bring to the surface. wee not countered by a
if this harmony is real or only apparent and if it appears in the same form strong resistance based on liberal and open-hearted traditions.
on all social levels and in every part of Brazil. In Brazil,"racial"laws were passed to combat racial prejudice and not
to give it official existence.
Earlier inquiries, particularly the historic works of Gilberto Freyre and
the sociological research done by Donald Pierson in Bahia had already That is why-as Unesco's inquiry has clearly shown-Brazil remains an
confirmed the favourable opinions that had been widely formed on Brazil's exemplary nation, destined because of this to play an important role in the
racial situation, but not all doubts had been removed. Several incidents, building of a world in which mutual respect between races will become an
and some angry statements made by Negro organizations, suggested that established and universal fact.