Minority Rights Group releases report on racism in Brazil: Afro-Brazilians: Time for Recognition

Minority Rights Group International, Report announcement, 1 March 2000

How is it that Afro-Brazilians have shaped so much of Brazilian culture, yet remain politically and economically disenfranchised? This is the central question posed by MRG's new Report, published to coincide with the 500th anniversary of the arrival of the Portuguese in Brazil. Many will not be joining in the celebrations but reflecting on the consequences of colonization for the land and peoples whom the Portuguese forced into bondage - in particular, the descendants of the millions of African slaves uprooted from the African continent and brought to work in one of the largest slave economies of human history.

The myth that Brazil is a 'racial democracy' remains a powerful one. It is a myth that this Report seeks to challenge. The Report describes how skin pigmentation is still used to delineate social hierarchy in Brazil and how Afro-Brazilians - thought by many to form a numerical majority in Brazil - are discriminated against at every level of Brazilian life. Afro-Brazilians suffer from high infant mortality, landlessness, poor access to education, discrimination in employment and police violence.

The Report also gives a history of the evolution of civil rights in Brazil, discusses the contribution of Afro- Brazilians to Brazilian culture and describes the work of the many Afro- Brazilian organizations which are working to raise awareness and inform people of their rights. It forms a timely contribution to the debate as to how far Brazil needs to go to meet the needs and aspirations of all its citizens.

The author of Afro-Brazilians - Time for Recognition is Darien J. Davis, an academic and consultant who has published widely of Latin American history and culture and is currently director of Latin American Studies at Middlebury College, Vermont, USA.

Contents Include:

Afro-Brazilians and their contribution to Brazilian culture: the outsiders, inside
The evolution of civil rights
Contemporary Afro-Brazilian organizations and NGO's
Art, music and black consciousness
Afro-Brazilians: contemporary demographics
Civil rights, ethnic rights, recognition and integration: Brazil and its record on human rights
Conclusion; Recommendations; Bibliography.

Series: Minority Rights Group Reports, ISSN 0305 6252, ISBN 1 897693 13 3, Publication date: December 1999, A4, wirebound, 40pp, 6.70 per copy inc.P&P ( 6.95/US$11.75 outside the UK/EIRE).

For further information or to order copies of this new Report please contact Graham Fox at Minority Rights Group International (UK). For details of our other books and reports on Latin America including 'No Longer Invisible: Afro-Latin Americans Today' please also visit MRG's online catalogue <http://www.minorityrights.org>. If you would like to receive an inspection or review copy please contact me at the address below.

Yours sincerely,

Graham Fox

Marketing Coordinator
Minority Rights Group International
379 Brixton Road
London
SW9 7DE
UK
Tel: +44 (0)171 978 9498
Fax: +44 (0)171 738 6265
graham.fox@mrgmail.org
http://www.minorityrights.org