Marcos Chor Maio

Color, Race, and Genomic Ancestry in Brazil Dialogues between Anthropology and Genetics

In the contemporary world, “race” narratives are so multifaceted that at times, different views of the concept appear mutually incompatible. In recent decades biologists, especially geneticists, have repeatedly stated that the notion of race does not apply to the human species. On the other hand, social scientists claim that race is highly significant in cultural, historical, and socioeconomic terms because it molds everyday social relations and because it is a powerful motivator for social and political movements based on race differences. In this paper we present the results of an interdisciplinary research project incorporating approaches from genetics and anthropology. Our objective is to explore the interface between information about biology/genetics and perceptions about color/race in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. We argue that the data and interpretation of our research resonate far beyond the local level, stimulating discussion about methodological, theoretical, and political issues of wider national and international relevance. Topics addressed include the complex terminology of color/race classification in Brazil, perceptions about ancestry in the context of ideologies of Brazilian national identity, and the relationship between genetic information about the Brazilian population and a sociopolitical agenda that turns on questions of race and racism.

Race, Genomics, Identities and Politics in Contemporary Brazil

The ‘new genetics’ (or genomics) has penetrated overwhelmingly into a broad range of domains in the contemporary world, spawning a technocultural revolution in relation to genes that has transformed technologies, institutions, practices and ideologies. The ‘new genetics’ has not only reshaped the biological, cultural and social loci in the immediate surroundings of individuals, but also reconfigures wide-ranging macro-social, historical and political relations. In this article we approach the technocultural revolution surrounding the ‘new genetics’ by means of a case study on the overlapping of race, genomics, identities and politics in Brazil. We analyze how the ‘new genetics’ extends far beyond the biological dimension to become an arena for dispute in which historical, social and political elements are present. Specifically, we will analyze the debate over the results of a survey that aimed to shed light on the ‘genetic origins of Brazilians’ based on the sequencing of parts of mitochondrial DNA and the Y chromosome. By focusing on how this survey was received, we will explore some of the new, intense and abundant forms of relations between ‘nature/genetics’ and ‘culture/society’, in which DNA appears as an outstanding player in the dispute between modalities for interpreting and transforming social and political realities.

Tempo controverso: Gilberto Freyre e o Projeto UNESCO

Este artigo tem por objetivo abordar as circunstâncias que levaram Gilberto Freyre a lutar pela incorporacao tardia da cidade do Recife (PE) ao ciclo de pesquisas sobre as relacoes raciais no Brasil, patrocinado pela UNESCO no inicio dos anos 50. Alem disso, faco uma reflexao acerca dos resultados da pesquisa realizada por Rene Ribeiro. Por meio da analise do contexto no qual emergem as primeiras criticas a obra de Freyre, procuro demonstrar que o sociologo pernambucano esforcou-se para fortalecer o recem-criado Instituto Joaquim Nabuco (IJN), espaco privilegiado de institucionalizacao da sociologia freyreana e, a partir dele, estabelecer uma interlocucao com os criticos a sua obra. Para isso, contou com a colaboracao do medico-antropologo Rene Ribeiro, que representava a combinacao de tradicoes distintas, a saber: os estudos medico-sociais gestados em Recife, no comeco dos anos 30, e a especializacao antropologica sob a orientacao de Melville Herskovits no final dos anos 40. Acrescente-se o fato de que mantinha contatos estreitos com o centro-sul do pais, especialmente com a Escola Livre de Sociologia e Politica. Nesse sentido, Gilberto Freyre se preparou para os embates com as ciencias sociais institucionalizadas que colocavam em questao sua ensaistica sociologica. O projeto UNESCO em Recife e um indicador preciso do tempo controverso.

Antropologia, raça e os dilemas das identidades na era da genômica

A ‘nova genética’, pela sua atual proeminência, é uma fonte de criação de identidades entre grupos sociais e mesmo nacionais. Narrativas genéticas interagem com narrativas históricas e sociais; o muitíssimo novo (a genômica) toca, interage e, em muitos casos, fricciona-se com o muito antigo (raça e tipologias). Neste trabalho analisa-se um conjunto de debates em curso acerca de interpretação de dados genéticos obtidos em estudos conduzidos no Brasil. Os debates têm mobilizado biólogos, cientistas sociais e movimentos sociais, entre outros. Os resultados e as implicações dessa pesquisa, conhecida como Retrato Molecular do Brasil, além de envolver a academia, têm servido como campo de disputa do qual participam, por exemplo, desde ativistas do movimento negro no Brasil até membros de grupos da extrema-direita européia. Uma análise contextualizada desses debates mostra-se útil para melhor compreender as imbricações entre antropologia, genética e sociedade no mundo atual.

Brazil within the concert of nations: the struggle against racism in the early days of Unesco

This article has the objective of approaching the political and scientific context that led Brazil to the position of Unesco paradigm for racial matters. I set out from the hypothesis that soon after the Holocaust, the positive image of race relations in Brazil was in greater evidence, becoming sort of anti-Nazi Germany. At this time, a number of unforeseen efforts took place in the sense of striving for an association between the search for understanding the German totalitarian phenomenon, the radical critique of the scientific standing of the concept of race, the evidencing of socio-economic demands of underdeveloped countries, and the choice of Brazil as a socio-anthropological laboratory. This combination of aims only became viable from the onset of a transnational political-academic alliance universalistic in nature.

A Sociedade de Medicina e Cirurgia do Rio de Janeiro: a gênese de uma rede institucional alternativa

Creation of the Rio de Janeiro Medical and Surgical Society serves as the basis for this study of late-19th-century medicine in Brazil. The hypothesis is that beginning in the 1880s changes to institutions and the diversification of medical community inaugurateed the structuring of a field of social relations specific to medical practitioners. With official medical institutions undergoing crises, alternative groups that emerged outside the government framework worked together toward common ends, particularly the construction of a kind of Brazilian medical knowledge that could play a role on the international scientific scenario.

Estudos de Comunidade e ciências sociais no Brasil

O objetivo deste artigo e fazer um balanco da literatura sobre os Estudos de Comunidade (EC) no Brasil, destacando o contexto intelectual em que foram produzidos e os debates que suscitaram, especialmente entre as decadas de 1940 e 1960. Metodo de pesquisa em comunidades, oriundo da Antropologia, em investigacoes sobre o processo de mudanca social, os EC estiveram em voga nos Estados Unidos entre os anos 1920 e 1950, tendo papel fundamental na institucionalizacao das Ciencias Sociais no Brasil. Destacamos tres aspectos na producao desses estudos no pais, iniciando com uma abordagem conceitual: definicoes, origem e sua relacao com tematicas marcantes nos anos 1950. Em seguida, privilegiamos os aspectos relacionados ao papel dos EC na historia das Ciencias Sociais no Brasil, com destaque para o processo de institucionalizacao das Ciencias Sociais. Por fim, revisitamos os debates que tais estudos geraram entre os cientistas sociais quanto ao padrao de trabalho sociologico a ser desenvolvido naquele momento.

Entre o laboratório de antropometria e a escola: a antropologia física de José Bastos de Ávila nas décadas de 1920 e 1930

The physician and anthropologist Jose Bastos de Avila was a major figure in the field of physical anthropology in Brazil in the 1920s and 1930s. He was affiliated with the Museu Nacional and latter with the Instituto de Pesquisas Educacionais, both in Rio de Janeiro. In this article we analyze his research in physical anthropology, which focused on questions of race and miscegenation with particular emphasis on anthropometric characteristics of children. Based on surveys carried out in public schools in Rio de Janeiro, Avila concluded that the children could not achieve higher levels of growth due to the precarious sanitary conditions prevailing in the neighborhoods. Avila emphasized that the main problems in Brazil were related to poor health, hygiene and education of the population, and not to racial issues. Avila participated in scientific expeditions, debated on archaeological heritage, conducted research on indigenous peoples and wrote a novel that received an award by the Academia Brasileira de Letras in 1932. We argue that the perspective of Avila, marked by a critique of racial determinism, was part of an intellectual current of physical anthropology that prevailed at the Museu Nacional in the early decades of 20th century, which in turn was associated with broader sociopolitical dynamics in Brazil.

Educação sanitária, estudos de atitudes raciais e psicanálise na trajetória de Virgínia Leone Bicudo

Na ficha funcional de Virginia Leone Bicudo (1910-2003) da Escola Livre de Sociologia e Politica (ELSP) consta que ela foi contratada em marco de 1940, ingressando na instituicao com trinta anos incompletos. Filha de Joana Leone, imigrante pobre de origem italiana, e de Teofilo Bicudo, descendente de escravo e afilhado de fazendeiro de cafe em Campinas. O padrinho de Teofilo, Bento Augusto de Almeida Bicudo, foi senador pelo Partido Republicano Paulista (PRP), positivista e fundador do jornal O Estado de Sao Paulo. Virginia Bicudo foi identificada como “branca” em seu documento de trabalho

Donald Pierson e o Projeto do Vale do Rio São Francisco: cientistas sociais em ação na era do desenvolvimento

The article analyzes Guerreiro Ramos’ criticisms of the UNESCO proposal to promote a series of studies on race relations in Brazil in the early 1950s. Focusing on the scholar’s work from 1946 to 1950, the article explores his criticism of the tradition of African-Brazilian studies, his approaches to color prejudice from the perspective of the intersection of sociology with social psychology, and his thoughts on the need to forge a black intelligentsia in order to combat racial discrimination in Brazil. Although Guerreiro Ramos’ proposal to replace the UNESCO academic research agenda with an International Conference on Race was not embraced, the idea had the unexpected effect of contributing to the expansion and diversification of UNESCO studies. The latter changes were facilitated by an openended scenario made possible by the autonomous work of a Transatlantic network of progressive social scientists who had diverse experiences in teaching and/or research in Brazil and who were sensitive to the demands presented at the First Brazilian Black Congress, sponsored by the Black Experimental Theater (TEN).