RACE-MAKING AND THE NATION-STATE
Anthony W. Marx article looks into the phenomenon of race-making and the nation-state using three nations that were most involved in the slave trade that occurred in the earliest part of the European colonization into new territories. These countries included the United States, South Africa, and Brazil. The focus of Marx’s article emphasizes the difference in how Brazil had less issues of racial divide than the United States and South Africa. What appears to be the problem in the way that each nation handled racial segregation and division had to do with the policies of the nation-states. Marx aims to prove that the intra-white conflicts was at the core of the troubles that encouraged further racism and division of blacks and white in the United States and South Africa, whereas Brazil did not have such issues and were able to find integration among races to be more feasible as a result of a difference in political attitudes among the people.
Marx does an extensive study into the background of how the United States, South Africa, and Brazil handled their treatment of slaves in the earlier years when slavery was an opening acceptable practice by the nations discussed. He did not find any difference in the harsh treatment of the slaves in any of the countries and even discovered that Brazilians were extremely unjust and inhuman in their treatment of their slaves. However, the difference in how Brazil handled their relations among the various races as slavery was abolished was entirely different from that of the United States and South Africa.
Perhaps the miscegenation of the blacks with the natives of Brazil allowed for a larger portion of mulatto’s, which changed the atmosphere of social attitudes regarding racial domination. However, miscegenation was also occurring in the U.S. and South Africa, but not without repercussion. In the U.S. and South Africa, this blending of races was not encouraged and often punished by law, while labeling the mulatto’s as black despite their biracial genetics. Brazil lacked the political tensions that were seen to be a troublesome affair in both the United States and South Africa where a division among the people were causing uproar among the white (and colored) citizens of these nations.
Laws were enacted in both the U.S. and South Africa, which encourage the racial discrimination that have been seen to continue even after the abolition of slavery. Instead of allowing an equal footing for all citizens upon the dissolution of slavery as was the case in Brazil, the U.S. and South Africa continued to place segregation and limitations on legal rights of blacks compared to whites. This is a factor that could be largely to blame on why race-making has continued to haunt both the United States and South Africa, whereas it is nearly obsolete in Brazil. This is not to say that Brazil does not have racism, but it is more so to emphasize that the legal rights of all people were honored in Brazil after the end of slavery, but in the U.S. and South Africa there were still restrictions put on the black populations in order to give whites dominion over the people.
In conclusion, Marx makes some interesting and valid points on why the outcome among the three nations has differed so much in the racial integration and ongoing racism that can be seen in the United States and Africa that is less hear of in Brazil.
Reference
Marx, Anthony W. 1996. “Race-Making And the Nation-State.” Cambridge University Press
48(2):180–208.
