Whitening, progress, and the tropical laboratory: the reception of racial theories in post-abolition Brazil

Abstract

This article proceeds from the hypothesis that understanding the historical construction of racial hierarchies is indispensable to explaining the persistence of racism in Brazilian society. From a historical-critical perspective, it examines the formation of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century racial theories and analyzes how this theoretical and political repertoire was appropriated and re-signified in Brazil, particularly after the abolition of slavery. Methodologically, the study adopts a qualitative approach grounded in a bibliographical review of classical and contemporary authors whose research addresses racism, Eurocentrism, and coloniality. It concludes that confronting Brazilian racism requires denaturalizing the role of science in the production of hierarchies as a necessary condition for affirming the dignity and plurality of human beings, regardless of their differences.