The Unmaking of Black Rights in Colombia and Brazil

• In Event: 215 - Section on Political Sociology Paper Session. The State and Racial Exclusion

Abstract

In this paper, I analyze the implementation of ethno-racial reforms in Colombia and Brazil paying special attention to the political conditions that have shaped these states’ decisions to make good on its promises or not. Second, I draw on ethnographic data and government statistics to explore the consequences of these policies on the lives of ordinary people in these countries. While many scholars have argued that international factors have shaped the making of black rights in these cases, in this paper I show how their implementation depended almost entirely on the conditions of possibility within these newly reconfigured political fields. More specifically, I suggest that the implementation of policies for black populations in both cases has depended heavily on the ways in which activists navigate their newly gained access to the state. Implementation has also been dramatically shaped by the emergence of reactionary movements that were not fully aware of the magnitude of ethno-racial legislation when they first passed. I highlight how once the dominant classes became increasingly aware of what was at stake here – land, natural resources, seats in congress and university slots that could secure/maintain one’s place within the middle class – they sought to dismantle these rights, in some cases through violent means. Ultimately, these dynamics suggest that black movement institutionalization and backlash are essential to understanding the unmaking of black political rights in Colombia and Brazil. They also raise questions about the limits of state efforts to bring about ethno-racial inclusion.

Author

• Tianna S. Paschel, University of California-Berkeley