ABSTRACT
Walther Boechat’s chapter on “cordial racism” in Brazil looks at the cultural complex of race as it has played itself out in the mixture of Native Indians, the Portuguese from Europe, and the Blacks from Africa. The author describes the unique style of multiple “races” that constitutes the social structure of Brazil. The peculiar way in which multiple people of different origins have composed Brazil’s social structure since colonial times led Gilberto Freyre to state that a “racial democracy” exists in Brazil. This assertion has been challenged for a long time by many anthropologists and scholars who began to demonstrate that racial democracy does not, in fact, exist in Brazil. Until this cordial racism is consciously engaged, the country will continue to experience upheaval.
