Blanqueamiento

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A Redencao de Cam (Redemption of Ham), by Galician painter Modesto Brocos, 1895, Museu Nacional de Belas Artes. The painting depicts a black grandmother, mulatta mother, white father and their quadroon child, hence three generations of racial hypergamy through whitening. Redencao.jpg
A Redenção de Cam ( Redemption of Ham ), by Galician painter Modesto Brocos, 1895, Museu Nacional de Belas Artes. The painting depicts a black grandmother, mulatta mother, white father and their quadroon child, hence three generations of racial hypergamy through whitening.

Blanqueamiento in Spanish, or branqueamento in Portuguese (both meaning whitening), is a social, political, and economic practice used in many post-colonial countries in the Americas and Oceania to "improve the race" (mejorar la raza) [1] towards a supposed ideal of whiteness. [2] The term blanqueamiento is rooted in Latin America and is used more or less synonymously with racial whitening. However, blanqueamiento can be considered in both the symbolic and biological sense. [3] Symbolically, blanqueamiento represents an ideology that emerged from legacies of European colonialism, described by Anibal Quijano's theory of coloniality of power, which caters to white dominance in social hierarchies. [4] Biologically, blanqueamiento is the process of whitening by marrying a lighter-skinned individual to produce lighter-skinned offspring. [4]

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Definition

Colonial-era casta painting from 1799, according to which the offspring of a Spaniard and a castiza are deemed to be "Spanish", i.e., White Latin Americans (criollos). BMVB - anonim - "3 De Espanol y Castiza, Espanola" - 1079 (cropped).jpg
Colonial-era casta painting from 1799, according to which the offspring of a Spaniard and a castiza are deemed to be "Spanish", i.e., White Latin Americans ( criollos ).

Peter Wade argues that blanqueamiento is a historical process that can be linked to nationalism. When thinking about nationalism, the ideologies behind it stem from national identity, which according to Wade is "a construction of the past and the future", [5] where the past is understood as being more traditional and backwards. For example, past demographics of Puerto Rico were heavily black and Indian-influenced because the country partook in the slave trade and was simultaneously home to many indigenous groups. Therefore, understanding blanqueamiento as it relates to modernization, modernization is then understood as a guidance in the direction away from black and indigenous roots. Modernization then happened as described by Wade as "the increasing integration of blacks and Indians into modern society, where they will mix in and eventually disappear, taking their primitive culture with them". [5] This kind of implementation of blanqueamiento takes place in societies that have historically always been led by 'white' people whose guidance would carry "the country away from its past, which began in Indianness and slavery" [5] with hopes of promoting the intermixing of bodies to develop a predominantly white-skinned society.

The formation of mestizaje emerged in the shift of Latin America towards multiculturalist perspectives and policies. [6] Mestizaje has been considered problematic by many scholars because it sustains racial hierarchies and celebrates blanqueamiento. [6] For example, Swanson argues that although mestizaje is not a physical embodiment of whitening, it is "not so much about mixing, as it about a progressive whitening of the population". [7]

Another possibility when considering mestizaje as it relates to blanqueamiento is by understanding mestizaje as a concept that encourages mixedness, but differs from the concept of blanqueamiento on the basis of the end goal for mestizaje. As Peter Wade states, "it celebrates the idea of difference in a democratic, non-hierarchical form. Rather than envisioning a gradual whitening, it holds up the general image of the mestizo in which racial, regional, and even class differences are submerged into a common identification with mixedness." [5] On the same coin, when thinking about blanqueamiento, the future goal takes up the same theme of mixing. The difference between them is that while mestizaje glorifies the mixing of all people to reach an end goal of having a brown population, blanqueamiento has the end goal of whiteness. The outcome of mestizaje mixing would lead to "the predominance of the mestizo" and is not "construed necessarily as (a) whitened mestizo". [5] Most importantly, both of these ideologies link emerging nationhood with the predominance of the mestizo or the whitened population.

In the early Republican era of Brazil, miscegenation as a form of whitening was looked down upon, as it was thought that the mestiço population retained the inferior qualities of the Indigenous and Afro-Brazilians. [8] It was for this reason that immigration as a form of whitening was preferred rather than through interracial relations. Theorists such as Raimundo Nina Rodrigues believed that education could improve the state of certain groups, such as Muslim Africans, however Indigenous and Afro-Brazilians were excluded from this. [8]

National policy

Blanqueamiento was enacted in national policies of many Latin American countries at the turn of the 20th century. In most cases, these policies promoted European immigration as a means to whiten the population. [9]

Brazil

Branqueamento was circulated in national policy throughout Brazil in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. [10] [11] Branqueamento policies emerged in the aftermath of the abolition of slavery and the beginning of Brazil's first republic (1888–1889). To dilute the black race, the Brazilian government took measures to increase European immigration. [10] [12] More than 1 million Europeans arrived in São Paulo between 1890 and 1914. [13] State and federal governments funded and subsidized immigrant travels [12] from Portugal, Spain, Italy, Russia, Germany, Austria, France, and the Netherlands. [14] Claims that white blood would eventually eliminate black blood were found in accounts of immigration statistics. [14] Created in the late 19th century, Brazil's Directoria Geral de Estatística (DGE) has conducted demographic censuses and managed to measure the progress of whitening as successful in Brazil. [14]

Cuba

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Cuban government created immigration laws that invested more than $1 million into recruiting Europeans into Cuba to whiten the state. [15] High participation of blacks in independence movements threatened white elitist power and when the 1899 census showed that more than 1⁄3 of Cuba's population was colored, white migration started to gain support. [16] Political blanqueamiento began in 1902 after the U.S. occupation, where migration of "undesirables" (i.e. blacks) became prohibited in Cuba. [17] Immigration policies supported the migration of entire families. Between 1902 and 1907, nearly 128,000 Spaniards entered Cuba, and officially in 1906, Cuba created its immigration law that funded white migrants. [17] However, many European immigrants did not stay in Cuba and came solely for the sugar harvest, returning to their homes during the off seasons. Although some 780,000 Spaniards migrated between 1902–1931, only 250,000 stayed. By the 1920s, blanqueamiento through national policy had effectively failed. [16]

Social

Blanqueamiento is also associated with food consumption. For example, in Osorno, a Chilean city with a strong German heritage, consumption of desserts, marmalades and kuchens "whitens" the inhabitants of the city. [18]

Economic

Blanqueamiento can also be accomplished through economic achievement. Many scholars have argued that money has the ability to whiten, where wealthier individuals are more likely to be classified as white, regardless of phenotypic appearance. [5] [19] [20] It is by this changing of social status that blacks achieve blanqueamiento. [21] In his study, Marcus Eugenio Oliveira Lima showed that groups of Brazilians succeeded more when whitened. [13]

Blanqueamiento has also been seen as a way to better the economy. In the case of Brazil, immigration policies that would help whiten the nation were seen as progressive ways to modernize and achieve capitalism. [12] In Cuba, blanqueamiento policies limited economic opportunities for African descendants, resulting in their reduced upward mobility in education, property, and employment sectors. [17]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Mestizo</i> Spanish term to denote a person with mixed European and non-European indigenous ancestry

Mestizo is a person of mixed European and indigenous non-European ancestry in the former Spanish Empire. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturally European even though their ancestors are indigenous. The term was used as an ethno-racial exonym for mixed-race castas that evolved during the Spanish Empire. It was a formal label for individuals in official documents, such as censuses, parish registers, Inquisition trials, and others. Priests and royal officials might have classified persons as mestizos, but individuals also used the term in self-identification.

White is a racialized classification of people generally used for those of mostly European ancestry. It is also a skin color specifier, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, ethnicity, point of view, appearance, etc.

Mulatto is a racial classification to refer to people of mixed African and European ancestry. Its use is considered outdated and offensive in several languages, including English and Dutch. But it does not have the same associations in languages such as Italian, Spanish and Portuguese. Among Latin Americans in the US, for instance, the term can be a source of pride. A mulatta is a female mulatto.

Afro–Latin Americans or Black Latin Americans are Latin Americans of full or mainly sub-Saharan African ancestry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mexicans</span> Citizens and nationals of the United Mexican States

Mexicans are the citizens and nationals of the United Mexican States.

<span title="Spanish-language text"><i lang="es">Casta</i></span> Mixed-race people of Spanish colonial regions in the 17th and 18th centuries

Casta is a term which means "lineage" in Spanish and Portuguese and has historically been used as a racial and social identifier. In the context of the Spanish Empire in the Americas, the term also refers to a now-discredited 20th-century theoretical framework which postulated that colonial society operated under a hierarchical race-based "caste system". From the outset, colonial Spanish America resulted in widespread intermarriage: unions of Spaniards, indigenous people, and Africans. Basic mixed-race categories that appeared in official colonial documentation were mestizo, generally offspring of a Spaniard and an Indigenous person; and mulatto, offspring of a Spaniard and an African. A plethora of terms were used for people with mixed Spanish, Indigenous, and African ancestry in 18th-century casta paintings, but they are not known to have been widely used officially or unofficially in the Spanish Empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skin whitening</span> Practice of using chemical substances to lighten the skin

Skin whitening, also known as skin lightening and skin bleaching, is the practice of using chemical substances in an attempt to lighten the skin or provide an even skin color by reducing the melanin concentration in the skin. Several chemicals have been shown to be effective in skin whitening, while some have proven to be toxic or have questionable safety profiles. This includes mercury compounds which may cause neurological problems and kidney problems.

Whitewash is a paint-like covering of hydrated lime or a cheap white paint.

White Latin Americans or European Latin Americans are Latin Americans of European descent.

Racial whitening, or "whitening" (branqueamento), is an ideology that was widely accepted in Brazil between 1889 and 1914, as the solution to the "Negro problem". Whitening in Brazil is a sociological term to explain the change in perception of one's race, from darker to lighter identifiers, as a person rises in the class structure of Brazil. Racial mixing in Brazilian society entailed that minority races ought to adopt the characteristics of the white race, with the goal of creating a singular Brazilian race that emulates the white race, striving to create a society best emulating that of Europe.

White Mexicans are individuals in Mexico who identify as white, often due to their physical appearance or their recognition of European ancestry. The Mexican government conducts ethnic censuses that allow individuals to identify as "White," but the specific results of these censuses are not made public. Instead, the government releases data on the percentage of "light-skinned Mexicans" in the country, which was 47% in 2010 and increased to 49% in 2017. The term "Light-skinned Mexican" is preferred by both the government and media to describe individuals in Mexico who possess European physical traits when discussing ethno-racial dynamics. However, "White Mexican" is still used at times.

Black Hispanic and Latino Americans, also called Afro-Hispanics, Afro-Latinos or Black Hispanics, or Black Latinos are classified by the United States Census Bureau, Office of Management and Budget, and other U.S. government agencies as Black people living in the United States with ancestry in Spain, Portugal or Latin America and/or who speak Spanish, and/or Portuguese as either their first language or second language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Race and ethnicity in Brazil</span> Overview of race and ethnicity in Brazil

Brazilian society is made up of a confluence of people of Indigenous, Portuguese, and African descent. Other major significant groups include Italians, Spaniards, Germans, Lebanese, and Japanese.

Racism in Cuba refers to racial discrimination in Cuba. In Cuba, dark skinned Afro-Cubans are the only group on the island referred to as black while lighter skinned, mixed race, Afro-Cuban mulattos are often not characterized as fully black or fully white. Race conceptions in Cuba are unique because of its long history of racial mixing and appeals to a "raceless" society. The Cuban census reports that 65% of the population is white while foreign figures report an estimate of the number of whites at anywhere from 40 to 45 percent. This is likely due to the self-identifying mulattos who are sometimes designated officially as white. A common myth in Cuba is that every Cuban has at least some African ancestry, influenced by historical mestizaje nationalism. Given the high number of immigrants from Europe in the 20th century, this is far from true. Several pivotal events have impacted race relations on the island. Using the historic race-blind nationalism first established around the time of independence, Cuba has navigated the abolition of slavery, the suppression of black clubs and political parties, the revolution and its aftermath, and the special period.

Racism in Mexico refers to the social phenomenon in which behaviors of discrimination, prejudice, and any form of antagonism are directed against people in that country due to their race, ethnicity, skin color, language, or physical complexion. It may also refer to the treatment and sense of superiority of one race over another.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Race and ethnicity in Latin America</span>

There is no single system of races or ethnicities that covers all modern Latin America, and usage of labels may vary substantially.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Afro-Mexicans</span> Mexicans of predominantly African descent

Afro-Mexicans, also known as Black Mexicans, are Mexicans who have heritage from sub-Saharan Africa and identify as such. As a single population, Afro-Mexicans include individuals descended from both free and enslaved Africans who arrived to Mexico during the colonial era, as well as post-independence migrants. This population includes Afro-descended people from neighboring English, French, and Spanish-speaking countries of the Caribbean and Central America, descendants of enslaved Africans in Mexico and those from the Deep South during Slavery in the United States, and to a lesser extent recent migrants directly from Africa. Today, there are localized communities in Mexico with significant although not predominant African ancestry. These are mostly concentrated in specific communities, including the populations of the Oaxaca, Huetamo, Lázaro Cárdenas, Guerrero, and Veracruz states.

Racism has been present in Brazil since its colonial period and is pointed as one of the major and most widespread types of discrimination, if not the most, in the country by several anthropologists, sociologists, jurists, historians and others. The myth of a racial democracy, a term originally coined by Brazilian sociologist Gilberto Freyre in his 1933 work Casa-Grande & Senzala, is used by many people in the country to deny or downplay the existence and the broad extension of racism in Brazil.

<i>Pardo</i> Term for multiracial people

In the former Portuguese and Spanish colonies in the Americas, pardos are triracial descendants of Southern Europeans, Indigenous Americans and West Africans.

<i>Hams Redemption</i> Painting by Modesto Broco

Ham's Redemption, in Portuguese: A Redenção de Cam ; is an oil painting made by painter Modesto Brocos in 1895. Brocos completed the work while teaching at the National School of Fine Arts of Rio de Janeiro.

References

  1. ↑ Rahier, J.M. (1999). "Body politics in black and white: Senoras, Mujeres, Blanqueamiento and Miss Esmeraldes 1997-1998, Ecuador". Ecuador, Women & Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory. 11 (1): 103–120. doi:10.1080/07407709908571317.
  2. ↑ Hernandez, Tanya Kateri (2001). "Multiracial Matrix: The Role of Race Ideology in the Enforcement of Antidiscrimination Laws, a United States-Latin America Comparison". Cornell Law Review. 87: 1093–1176.
  3. ↑ Sawyer, M.Q. & T.S. Paschel (2007). ""We didn't cross the color line, the color line crossed us"—Blackness and Immigration in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and the United States". Du Bois Review. 4 (2): 303–315. doi:10.1017/S1742058X07070178. S2CID   7725596.
  4. 1 2 Montalvo, F. F. & G. E. Codina (2001). "Skin Color and Latinos in the United States" (PDF). Ethnicities. 1 (3): 321–41. doi:10.1177/146879680100100303. S2CID   145400906.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Wade, Peter. (1993) Blackness and Race Mixture: The Dynamics of Racial Identity in Colombia. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. Series in Atlantic History and Culture
  6. 1 2 Chavez, M., and M. Zambrano. (2006) From blanqueamiento to reindigenizacion: Paradoxes of mestizaje and multiculturalism in contemporary Colombia. European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, 80, 5-23.
  7. ↑ Swanson, K. (2007). "Revanchist Urbanism Heads South: The Regulation of Indigenous Beggers and Street Vendors in Ecuador". Antipode. 39 (4): 708–728. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8330.2007.00548.x.
  8. 1 2 Blake, Stanley E. (2011). The vigorous core of our nationality: race and regional identity in northeastern Brazil. Pitt Latin American series. Pittsburgh, Pa: University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN   978-0-8229-6133-8.
  9. ↑ Andrews, G.R. Afro-Latin America 1800-2000. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
  10. 1 2 Agier, M (1995). Racism, Culture, and Black Identity in Brazil. Vol. 14. Bulletin of Latin American Research. pp. 245–264.
  11. ↑ Telles, E.E. (2006). Race in Another America: The Significance of Skin Color in Brazil (Paperback ed.). Princeton, NJ/Oxford: Princeton University Press. p. 324. ISBN   9780691127927.
  12. 1 2 3 Jones-de Oliveira, K.F. (2003). "The Politics of Culture or the Culture of Politics: Afro-Brazilian Mobilization, 1920-1968". Journal of Third World Studies. 20 (1): 103–120.
  13. 1 2 Lima, M.E.O. (2007). "Review Essay: Race Relations and Racism in Brazil". Culture and Psychology. 13 (4): 461–473. doi:10.1177/1354067X07082805. S2CID   146389827.
  14. 1 2 3 Loveman, M (2009). "The Race to Progress: Census Taking and Nation Making in Brazil (1870-1920)". Hispanic American Historical Review. 89 (3): 435–470. doi:10.1215/00182168-2009-002.
  15. ↑ "Cuba: The next revolution". In Black in Latin America (Web series episode). 2011. Public Broadcasting Service.
  16. 1 2 de la Fuente, A. (1998). "Race, National Discourse, Politics in Cuba: An Overview". Latin American Perspectives. 25 (3): 43–69. doi:10.1177/0094582x9802500303. JSTOR   2634166. S2CID   220912969.
  17. 1 2 3 Chomsky, A. (2000). "'Barbados or Canada?' Race, Immigration, and Nation in Early-Twentieth-Century Cuba". Hispanic American Historical Review. 80 (3): 415–462. doi:10.1215/00182168-80-3-415. S2CID   145451194.
  18. ↑ Montecino, Sonia (2009). "Conjunciones y disyunciones del gusto en el sur de Chile" (PDF). Historia, Antropología y Fuentes Orales (in Spanish): 169–176. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
  19. ↑ Duany, J. (2000). Neither Black nor White: The Politics of Race and Ethnicity among Puerto Ricans on the Island and in the U.S. Mainland. Providence, Rhode Island: Brown University.
  20. ↑ Degler, C.N. (1971). Neither Black nor White: Slavery and Race Relations in Brazil and the United States . New York: Macmillan. ISBN   9780023282003.
  21. ↑ Golash-Boza, T. (2010). "Does Whitening Happen? Distinguishing between Race and Color Labels in an African Descended Community in Peru". Social Problems. 57 (1): 138–156. doi:10.1525/sp.2010.57.1.138. hdl: 1808/7588 . S2CID   16274803.
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