Making Race and Nation: A Comparison of South Africa, the United States, and Brazil

408 Pages·1997·30.189 MB·English

by  Anthony W. Marx

Whyand howhas race become a central aspectofpolitics duringthis
century? This book addresses this pressing question by comparing
apartheid and resistance to it in South Africa, theJim Crow laws and
protests against them in the United States, and the myth of racial
democracy in Brazil. Anthony Marx argues that these divergent ex—
periences had roots in the history of slavery, colonialism, miscege—
nation, and culture, but were fundamentally shaped by efforts and
elite bargains to build national unity. In South Africa and the United
States, ethnic or regional conflicts among whites were gradually re—
solvedbyunifyingwhites as a race and excludingblacks,whileBrazil’s
longer—established national unityrequired no such legalracistcrutch.
Race was thus central to projects ofnation building, and nationalism
shaped uses ofrace. Professor Marx extends this argumentto explain
popular protest and the current salience ofissues ofrace, and to sug—
gesthowbuildingnationalunityalsobuildsuponandreinforcessocial
divisions more generally.
Making Race and Nation
Cambridge Studies in Comparative Poliltics
GeneralEditor
PeterLange, Duke University
AssociateEditors
RobertH. Bates, Harvard University
Ellen Comisso, UniversityofCalifornia, San Diego
PeterHall, Harvard University
JoelMigdal, UniversityofWashington
HelenMilner, Columbia University
Ronald Rogowski, UniversityofCalifornia, LosAngeles
SidneyTarrow, Camel] University
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Making Race
and Nation
A COMPARISON OF
SOUTH AFRICA,
THE UNITED STATES,
AND BRAZIL
ANTHONY W. MARX
Columbia University
CAMBRIDGE
UNIVERSITYPRESS
CAMBRIDGEUNIVERSITYPRESS
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©AnthonyW.Marx1998
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For Karen
Contents
Preface andAcknowledgments page xi
1 Introduction 1
Bounding the State and InstitutionalizingIdentities 3
Comparing and Excavating Historical Foundations 6
Constructing Racial Domination 10
Challenging the Racial Order 17
What Is at Stake? 23
Part One: Historicaland Cultural Legacies 27
2 Trajectoriesfi'om Colonialism 29
Portuguese Brazil 29
Dutch and British Colonial Legacies 35
Comparative Overview 43
3 Lessonsfrom Slavery 47
The Myth ofBrazil’s “Humanitarian” Slavery 48
Slavery and Abolitionism in the United States 56
Comparing Slavery and Its Implications 62
4 The Uncertain Legacy ofMiscegenation 65
Implications 77
Part Two: RacialDomination and the Nation-State 81
5 “Wefor Thee, South Africa”: The Racial State 84
White Conflict, Forced Unity, and Black Exclusion 84
Ethnic Political Competition and Segregation 94
CONTENTS
Apartheid and Greater White Unity 104
6 “To Bind Up the Nation’s Wounds”:
The United States after the Civil War 120
The Nation Divided 120
Segregation, Party Competition, and Nation—State
Consolidation 131
Centralizing Power and Greater White Unity 145
7 “Orderand Progress”:
Inclusive Nation—State Building in Brazil 158
Unity and Discrimination 159
The PersistentMyth ofRacial Democracy 164
Comparative Racial Domination: An Overview 178
Part Three: Race Makingfrom Below 191
8 “We Are a Rock”:
Black RacialIdentity, Mobilization, and the New
South Africa 194
Consolidation ofRacial Identity and Protest 194
Black Protest Forces Inclusive Nation—State Building 204
9 Buryingj’im Crow:
Black RacialIdentity, Mobilization, and Reform in the
United States 217
Toward Racial Solidarity 217
Rising Black Protest Forces State Reforms 224
National Black Protest and White Backlash 234
The Movement Fractures 245
10 Breathing Brazil’s Pact ofSilence 250
Constrained Afro—Brazilian Solidarityunder Racial
Democracy 251
Afro—Brazilian Activism Emerges 255
Comparative Overview 264
11 Conclusion 267
Unmaking Legal Racial Domination and the
Continuing Legacies ofDiscrimination 269
CONTENTS
General Implications 274
Notes 279
Bibliography 351
Index 381