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Gilberto Freyre: The Myth Of Racial Democracy

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The term ‘racial democracy’ was coined by Gilberto Freyre to describe the lack of racial prejudice in Brazilian society due to the high degree of racial miscegenation (Hardy: 2015). Freyre’s approach was rooted in the understanding that the Portuguese colonization of Brazil emphasized class, religious and political status rather than physical attributes such as race and colour (Freyre: 87). As he once stated, “the civilized Christian coloured man could be socially as Portuguese as any Portuguese as Christian as any Christian,” (Freyre: 87). Furthermore, he argued that Amerindians and Africans acted less like races oppressed by the white man and more like individuals governed by their status in society (Freyre: 87). This understanding gained popularity in Brazil and became a justification for racism, without acknowledging that it was even racism (Dzidzienyo: 163). While it was recognized that racial prejudice did exist to some extent, the fact that there was no segregation, separation or exclusion per se resulted in Brazilians viewing their situation as more humane than the situation in the United States where institutionalized racism existed (Hardy: 2015). This comparison to the situation in the United States served to legitimize Freyre’s claim throughout Brazilian society (Skidmore: 94). …show more content…

The use of the United States as an example of what racism looks like to Brazilians has led to the conclusion that given the lack of biracial classification, racism simply does not exist. However, the Brazilian racism takes a more nuanced form such that Brazilians have upwards of twenty different words to describe the skin colour variations between white and black (Dzidzienyo: 164). Given this classification system in Brazil, examples of racism themselves are more

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