Back to Black

As Latin America's flagship 'racial democracy,' Brazil is famous for its history of race mixture and fluid racial boundaries. Traditionally, scholars have emphasized that this fluidity has often led to whitening, where individuals seek classification in white, or lighter, racial categories. Yet, Back to Black documents a sudden reversal in this trend, showing instead that individuals are increasingly opting to identify with darker, and especially black, racial categories. Drawing on a wealth of quantitative and qualitative data, David De Micheli attributes this sudden reversal to the state's efforts at expanding access to education for the lower classes. By unleashing waves of upward mobility, greater education increased individuals' personal exposure to racial hierarchies and inequalities and led many to develop racial consciousness, further encouraging black identification. The book highlights how social citizenship institutions and social structures can work together to affect processes of identity politicization and the contestation of inequalities.

Articulates a causal theory of mass identity change and politicization using accessible language
Furthers our understanding of the construction of 'race' as a social phenomenon
Utilizes multi-disciplinary theoretical perspectives, including political science, sociology, anthropology, race and ethnic studies, and Latin American area studies

Reviews & endorsements

‘Back to Black provides a compelling explanation for the recent increase in the number of Brazilians who have self-identified as black. De Micheli employs a wealth of qualitative and quantitative evidence to show that the increasing educational access of poor Brazilians has reshaped their identities by increasing their exposure to information and social networks. Self-identified blacks, in turn, have tended to vote consistently for leftist candidates. The book is a model of clear writing and rigorous scholarship and has important implications for other Latin American countries, particularly given the rising educational levels across the region.’ Raul Madrid, Professor, University of Texas, Austin

‘In Back to Black, David De Micheli convincingly documents Brazil’s surge in non-white racial identification and asks how this counter-intuitive ‘reclassification reversal’ occurred. His persuasive argument is that egalitarian social policies interact with and challenge racial hierarchies in ways that promote politicized group consciousness - even in a context of significant racial fluidity like Brazil. Evidence from multiple sources - including interviews, extensive field work, original survey experiments, administrative and survey data - demonstrates how massive state-led educational expansion produced a cascade of (unplanned) consequences that activated black and brown identities and transformed how these identities map onto politics. This groundbreaking contribution helps set a new agenda for comparative race and ethnic politics research, placing ethnoracial group formation at the center of our understandings of political contestation in Latin America.’ Jana Morgan, Professor, University of Tennessee

See more reviews