The Brazil Files: Is Racism Relative?
by Special Correspondent Wendi Muse
As mentioned by countless writers who dare to venture into the dangerous territory of race and ethnicity, racism is a tricky animal. There are moments when racism stares one right in the face, begging to be confronted via the most obvious of responses, then there are moments when racism hides in the shadows, only to be perceived by the most observant, sometimes the victim alone. Yet what is to be done when considering racism when it has literally crossed borders, cultures, and history? Does it become a new species?
I was faced with this difficult question just last week. On Wednesday, I walked into our teachers’ lounge/meeting room to ask if anyone knew of any Asian restaurants in the city. This inquiry, by the way, is not completely out of left field. Brazil has a large and thriving Asian population, composed primarily of Japanese immigrants and their descendants, in addition to smaller Chinese, Indian, and Thai communities, and many cities in the region in which I live happen to have restaurants that serve Asian food or some Brazilian-Asian fusion dishes. The dialogue that followed, however, was far more out of left field than my request:
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Brazilian Teacher (male, white, 25): “Yeah, there is a Chinese restaurant downtown. They have yakissoba and sushi.
Me: Oh ok. I thought yakissoba was Japanese, no?
BT: Meh, Japanese, Chinese, same thing, right?
Proceeds to do the “Miley Cyrus” (also known as “a derogatory gesture that involves using one’s index, and sometimes middle, fingers to stretch the skin around his or her eyes horizontally, in order to make one’s eyes appear like those of people who are of Asian descent”…just in case anyone was lost). Laughs hysterically.
Me: Takes a deep breath in order to remain composed. Um, no. They have some things in common, sure, but to say they are the same is not exactly correct. I mean the culture is different, the language is different… sometimes the foods have similar origin, but are still different . . .
BT: Yeah, but Korean, Japanese, Chinese…they all look alike right?!?!? “Miley Cyrus,” proceeds to laugh again.
Me: Disgusted. No, they don’t actually. Some people may have similar features because there was a lot of mixing going on in Asia for generations…(so flustered at this point, because I am thinking of thousands of years of civilization, and how exactly to explain that to someone in 30 seconds), but there ARE differences. It’s like if I said everyone from Spain, Portugal, and Italy look JUST alike and are all the same just because the majority of people are white. I mean people are different!
BT: All the same! “Miley Cyrus,”AGAIN
Towards the end, I decided to return to the original subject to preemptively extinguish a potential fight.
Me: Ok, whatever. Where is the restaurant?
So by this point, clearly I was fuming. But after the fact, I began to reflect on the exchange. Was I being overly sensitive? Did I miss something in my Brazilian history lesson about it being socially acceptable to derisively mimic people with Asian ancestry in public places? Was I being a “typical American” (read: over-reacting to the tiniest of issues)?
At first, I thought maybe so. I had carried around my own country’s baggage of sullied race relations and unpacked it in another place. I was analyzing the situation through the gray lenses of the United States and our racial past. But then I considered something that had a simple answer, but not exactly the easiest of solutions:
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Is racism culturally relative?
The immediate answer is, “yes,” but in terms of addressing this version of cultural relativity or, in other words, the variation across different societies and cultures of what is considered of value, good/bad, and/or acceptable, there is no easy answer. Different countries may have similar histories, but the nuances of each nation’s respective past often yield a strikingly different present.
With Brazil carrying the heavy weight of being considered not only one of the most ethnically and racially diverse nations in the world, but also the most “utopian” in terms of race relations, to analyze the issue of racism becomes doubly difficult because to consider race at all is a bit complicated*. There are fewer fixed ideas of race in Brazil than in the United States. For example, there was never a “one-drop” rule here, nor was there legislated segregation following the abolition of slavery (though they abolished slavery in 1888, much later than the United States, many Brazilians cite the Jim Crow Laws when condemning the U.S. as a racist country). These factors, when coupled with pre-existing ideas allowing for slightly more social acceptance of miscegenation (“race mixing”), mean that race is a far more muddled category. Though complex, the Brazilian racial spectrum tends to be far more “open” in terms of racial categories and even provide for what one could consider racial transcendence, meaning that after a day involving a lot of sun exposure or a property inheritance, I can go from being considered one race to another.
The complexities of Brazilian racial history and general race relations I will leave for another article, as it is too extensive to discuss at this moment, but it is important to consider the aforementioned when thinking about whether or not the statements I heard and gestures I witnessed were racist or not. If I were raised in Brazil, there is a possibility that I may not have found my co-worker’s impromptu comedy routine racist, but I wanted to test this theory by running by a few of my Brazilian friends of various races.
The majority of my friends said it came down to a matter of city vs. country. In larger cities, much like in the United States, there is less tolerance for racial stereotypes and discrimination thanks to the increased diversity within the population who keep everyone, including the government, on their toes. Though there are residents of Asian descent in the town in which I live, there are thousands more in cities like São Paulo, which is where most of my friends live. They noted that the heightened political awareness and education level of larger cities may also be a determining factor in the response to my co-worker’s behavior.
But to add to this consideration, I also thought of how I deal with the majority of cultural norms I find outside of my comfort zone (i.e. female circumcision, socially sanctioned domestic abuse, or the exclusion of certain ethnic and/or religious groups from voting rights). I usually resort to using the Harm Principle, a concept coined by one of my favorite thinkers, British philosopher John Stuart Mill.
The Harm Principle rests on the basic premise that one should be allowed to do as he or she pleases, so long as his or her actions do not harm other human beings. In my own personal version of the harm principle, however, I extend the definition to go beyond the physical. I include the prospect of psychological “violence.” If you engage in an act of racism, by my definition, you are conveying a pre-existing stereotype you hold of one group of people in the presence of others. And even if those present are not of the group you seek to insult, the general affect on the listener is harmful because it results in the spread of stereotypes, which in turn can result in the spread of hatred and/or lead to discrimination (“Active” racism, i.e. legal restrictions for certain racial groups or hate crimes).
In other words, my co-worker passed my racism test. By considering all Asians to be the same, primarily based on a sole physical characteristic that most, though not all, East Asians share, and then, in addition, by relegating the cultural and culinary traditions of all East Asians to the same category, one that he then proceeded to ridicule, he scored pretty high on the b.o.b. (big ole bigot) scale. So while I fully recognize that race and the way we think about race-related issues varies across cultures, it does not mean, in my opinion, that we should give license to those who choose to engage in the perpetuation of stereotypes or complete misconceptions about one group or another. From one country to another, feeling as if your respective group is not considered equal or that your culture is somehow funny, strange, or insignificant in comparison is all the same: unacceptable.
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of
foshothoyo wrote:
there are GOBS of racist white people in south america, from the neo-nazis of Chile to the white upper-class that fled Venezuela when Chavez took over. Don’t get it twisted – just because there are lots of mixed people doesn’t mean there is widespread racial harmony or equality. It is far from utopian, but people tend to make that mistake because they think that Carnival is always happening. Not true – there is a lot of intolerance and racism that goes on under the surface of the tourist facade – most notably evidenced in the favelas, which are mostly black. The legacies of Colonialism, The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, and Operation Condor are still very relevant. It’s funny though, that often americans think of white south americans (or light skinned ones) as not being white. They certainly don’t think so.
Posted 19 Mar 2009 at 12:34 pm ¶
Elton wrote:
Being an ignorant asshole does not constitute a culture.
Posted 19 Mar 2009 at 12:38 pm ¶
Restructure! wrote:
Racial categories are culturally relative, but racism is, for all practical purposes, not relative. There is a common idea that when people of colour find something offensive, it is because of a cultural difference, and hence our sensitivities are subjective, we don’t understand the mainstream culture, etc.
A very good example of this is the guy who make the “Drunken Negro Face” (or “Drunken N****r Face”) cookies, who said,
Posted 19 Mar 2009 at 12:52 pm ¶
Leia wrote:
I Agree with you 100% I like you method too.
Posted 19 Mar 2009 at 1:01 pm ¶
Guera wrote:
Thanks for this series! It is really interesting. I do capoeira in the United States, so its interesting to hear about race from both my Brazilian friends and my African and Latino American friends who have traveled there. It really highlights the difference in the construction of race between the two countries. My capoeira mestre is generally read as “white” here in the states, but in Brazil he is considered more “amarelo”, a term that implies a certain degree of both African-ness and European-ness. This is probably due to both his economic class and having darker family members. On the other hand, I have African-American friends who are unequivocally seen as “black” here, but are also amarelo in Brazil. I think the one-drop rule contributed a lot to this… here all it takes to make you black is any discernible African features, but in Brazil the language describes a continuum.
Posted 19 Mar 2009 at 1:03 pm ¶
Jennifer dG wrote:
It’s interesting to me that in such a racially complex society, there is still the concept of “the Other” — in this case people of Asian ethnicity. Othering, I think, is at the root of racist behavior such as stereotyping and ridicule. It overlooks the individuality of members of the Other group and places them firmly outside of the dominant culture. It means that people in the dominant group can regard those in the Other group as somewhat less than fully human since, obviously, there’s no way “we” could ever understand “them.” And that leads to willful ignorance of something that’s actually very easy to understand (the cultural and physical differences between different Asian ethnicities) and makes it that much harder for members of the Other group to integrate into the dominant society.
Thanks for the post! It was thought-provoking.
Posted 19 Mar 2009 at 1:06 pm ¶
Fiqah wrote:
AMAZING article, Ms. muse. (Why is it always the truly “WTF” moments that generate the most profound reflection? ) Although (thankfully) never had anything this extreme happen while I was abroad many years ago in West Africa, there was a lot of anti-Asian sentiment towards the growing Asian community there (should be mentioned that a lot of it sprang from resentment of predatory nature of Japanese fishing corporations depleting local waters with impunity) . And it felt weird, deflecting the occassional racist comment from Black African acquiantances/my host family about the Asian communities there. Mind you, the racist hierarchy dictacted a certain elevated status for people of Middle Eastern descent that NOBODY I met challenged…it was the most sophisticated playing-out of Semi-Lateral Racist Oppression I had ever seen.
Posted 19 Mar 2009 at 1:20 pm ¶
F. wrote:
I actually had a professor from Brazil who taught Spanish at my college (it was her second language, English was her third). Your post is a bit uncanny, Wendi, because once we were learning the Spanish words for different nationalities and when she taught us the word for “Japanese” she actually did a “Miley Cyrus.” You know, just to make sure we knew that “Japonesa” met those slitty-eyed people. But this is a middle-aged professor employed at a place of higher learning we’re talking about, not some sixteen year-old, probably drunk American girl mugging for her friend’s camera. She went back to Brazil after the semester was over, by the way, don’t know what happened to her.
The Argentinean female soccer team and the Spanish basketball team have also been caught doing the Miley Cyrus. If you’ve been keeping up with Angry Asian Man, he’s had several posts recently about racist, anti-Asian signs and advertisements in Latin countries. What is it with Spanish-speaking countries/countries south of the border and their messed-up perspective of Asians, anyway?
Posted 19 Mar 2009 at 1:34 pm ¶
afii wrote:
Why are you circling the girl doing it, and not the guy to the left? Is everyone but the Asian guy squinting for a reason? This picture is confusing…
Posted 19 Mar 2009 at 1:40 pm ¶
wendi muse wrote:
a) i dont think brazil is a racial utopia, but a whole ton of folks do..hence my citing that
b) the girl in the pic is miley cyrus
Posted 19 Mar 2009 at 1:56 pm ¶
Fiqah wrote:
@affi: B/c that’s Miley “Disney Channel All-American” Cyrus.
Posted 19 Mar 2009 at 2:03 pm ¶
Lamees wrote:
@afii
im assuming because mily cyrus is a tween celebrity whose earning gobs of money from marketing her ’squeaky clean’ disney character/show as a brand.
Posted 19 Mar 2009 at 2:06 pm ¶
Lamees wrote:
ah shoudl have mentioned, shes the one with the circle around her face. the rest i dont think are famous… she also took way to long to issue a half assed apology about the situation
Posted 19 Mar 2009 at 2:07 pm ¶
The Cruel Secretary wrote:
@afii–the young woman who’s circled is Miley Cyrus and here’s the Racialicious post addressing your question….
http://www.racialicious.com/2009/02/05/miley-cyrus-thinks-its-cool-to-mock-asians/
Posted 19 Mar 2009 at 2:16 pm ¶
Elton wrote:
afii,
I kinda envy you for not knowing who that is. Where I’m from, her face is on everything.
Posted 19 Mar 2009 at 2:19 pm ¶
livininphilly wrote:
More please!
Throughout college I studied race and culture in the US vs. Brazil. The mixing of cultures in Brazil and the subsequent development of the idea of nationalism among brazilians seemed so different from the US where everyone is hyphenated and by extension fragmented (african-american, chinese-american, italian-american, etc.). I remember a conversation w/ my professor about the construction of race in Brazil and I said “it’s fascinating b/c Brazil is a place where everyone is just brazilian.” She stopped me and said “yes, but in brazil you have “nippo-brazilians” (used to refer to Japanese brazilians or Asian brazilians) they are hyphenated so what does that mean?” That question showed me that even in a supposed racial utopia, race is still an issue. So it’s intriguing to read that you have seen some of this reflected in your travels. It was my understanding from that conversation with her that of all of the groups of people in Brazil that Asian people may be most often targeted for discrimination and racism. I’m not sure if this is completely accurate but reading your article just reminded me of that conversation.
Posted 19 Mar 2009 at 2:30 pm ¶
Deaf Indian Muslim Anarchist! wrote:
Shocker! People are racist and ignorant EVERYWHERE. Being South American does not exclude that fact.
Posted 19 Mar 2009 at 2:40 pm ¶
Ray wrote:
Valeu! Aprovetei seu post. Perece que nao mora numa cidade bem grande. Quando eu morava la, morava numa cidadinha pequenha e as possoas eram assim. Concordo com seus amigos que o racismo eh uma coisa das cidades pequenhos onde nao tem tanto diversidade. E tambem, meus amigos nao entenderam quando tentei explicar minha ideias sobre racismo neles.
en: Thanks! I enjoyed your post. It seems like you live in a smaller town. When I lived in Brazil I lived in a very small town and the people were like that. I agree with your friends that its a small town thing since there generally isn’t any diveristy. Like you, my friends couldn;t understand when I tried to explain my ideas about racism.
Posted 19 Mar 2009 at 4:08 pm ¶
Deanna wrote:
The Brazilian Government has acknowledged that Racism is a problem in Brazil (while socially there may be more mixing of races, in terms of economics and political power/representation there are huge inequities, as in the US.) I don’t have the details for specifics in front of me, but the governments of the US and Brazil have created a Joint Action Plan to Combat Racism (they have an email address, jointactionplan@state.gov). There was a big conference in I think Brasilia last year, with more to come.
By the way, I understood that the City of Sao Paulo, Brazil, had the largest population of Japanese outside of Tokyo.
Posted 19 Mar 2009 at 4:12 pm ¶
broom wrote:
im just reminded of the Spanish Basketball team incident during the Beijing Olympics
http://xd8.xanga.com/9c9c7356d9d31206014085/b160199135.jpg
I’ve practically given up, but to this day I’ll clown on Pau Gasol for being a racist fool (or any of the other Spanish players who play for NBA teams in the United States), and everybody still quotes their “it was a joke (or a wink?) defense. If racism is relative by nation, what about those Spanish players who live and work in the US and surely have plenty of Asian American fans, whose own relative experience makes them victims of this joke… not to understate the fact that im sure plenty of Spanish Asians did not appreciate this joke.
Are we too blind to spot the global village on the horizon?
Posted 19 Mar 2009 at 4:13 pm ¶
Lola wrote:
“typical American” (read: over-reacting to the tiniest of issues)?
I haven’t heard that one before. Now I’m worried, or am I just over-reacting? Please explain.
Posted 19 Mar 2009 at 4:33 pm ¶
wendi muse wrote:
re: lola’s question…i should explain. americans are generally perceived (in other countries) as being hyper-reactionary and super politically correct. most of the lawsuits, debates, and protests we have in the states are viewed as, well, petty, compared to like, you know, extreme poverty…
in other words, we’re seen as whiners who have it easy who get our rocks off from complaining…
for example, when i explained the miley cyrus situation (the real one, when she was caught doing the eye thing), most people here were like, “um, why is that a big deal? americans like to make a “storm in a glass” (brazilian version of “make a mountain out of a molehill”). when compared to some of the major issues that other countries face on a regular basis, i see their point. but, in general, i was making reference to this assumption; that we are pretty sensitive.
re: deaf’s comment…i am not saying south americans can’t be racist. nor is this a piece that is meant to shock. the point is to re-consider what is racism, because it totally depends on the society you are in. we often try to apply american norms of racism to other places and end up a bit off bc we fail to consider other factors, mainly race relations with the country at present and the history that created that nation’s racial categories and what is considered acceptable treatment of race issues in general.
Posted 19 Mar 2009 at 4:58 pm ¶
Joseph wrote:
@Wendi Muse
“we often try to apply american norms of racism to other places and end up a bit off bc we fail to consider other factors, mainly race relations with the country at present and the history that created that nation’s racial categories and what is considered acceptable treatment of race issues in general.”
Cosign.
This is a great essay. A really thoughtful exploration of a thorny issue: how do racial categories/expressions travel? I definitely also cosign the “Americans overreact re: race” meme. I have heard this repeatedly from people from a wide range of countries. I think, by bringing up the popular understanding of Brazil as a racial utopia where racist shit like what describe nonetheless happens you make an interesting parallel to the “Obama/post-racial” argument we have here.
Posted 19 Mar 2009 at 5:37 pm ¶
Louise wrote:
Thank god you had the balls to write this article. People are very lazy and assume that just because a country has a large mixed race populus it is some kind of racial uptopia, that is like sugguesting that mixed race people are by definitive not predjudiced, that cannot be true because they are human and have the same mental processes as mono racial people.
Posted 19 Mar 2009 at 5:50 pm ¶
Lola wrote:
Thanks Wendi,
sounds similar to the way many American’s react when called on their own racist behavior.
Posted 19 Mar 2009 at 5:54 pm ¶
atlasien wrote:
I had the eye-pull done on me a few years ago in Puerto Rico by a hotel clerk. He asked me if I was Asian because my eyes looked “like this” and pulled them up.
Overall, I’ve found people are a lot more open about talking about racial physiological differences in Latin America. A gesture or name or comment that would have a clearly negative intent in the U.S. would be merely neutral there. It’s still jarring to me, though. I often didn’t know when I was looking at things with the wrong glasses, or if people were really being racist.
I don’t think people in Latin America are more racist than here, or less racist…. just different.
I actually like the fact that talking about racial difference and whiteness is less taboo there, and also that there’s usually more cultural space allowed for multiracial people. That’s one thing the U.S. could learn from. What I don’t like is that frequent self-congratulatory “we’re beyond race” attitude. U.S. race relations aren’t perfect by any means, but we do have some initiatives, like affirmative action, that are a good model for other multiracial countries like Brazil… this 2003 article shows the very beginning of their affirmative action initiatives, and it’s really a fascinating read.
Posted 19 Mar 2009 at 6:12 pm ¶
urbanwarrior wrote:
Sometime ago I read an article about the supposed lack of racism in Brazil. Seems that the author was interviewing Brazilians who often said that the Brazilian people were so “mixed” that “we hardly know who is black or white!” At which point, a young boy on the side said “The police know who is black or white.”
Posted 19 Mar 2009 at 6:20 pm ¶
Gen wrote:
Interesting post, and I mostly agree. I do think that saying that “racism is relative” is a bit problematic, though. Racism itself isn’t relative; there are certain things that are inherently racist––as you point out. But certainly the cultural norms surrounding racism––what is considered racist vs. what is considered acceptable, common knowledge about the racial implications of a certain word/action––can vary. People in one place or culture may be far less aware of the racist connotations attached to certain words/etc than those in another place. Sometimes this ignorance/lack of context is indicative of endemic/unacknowledged racism in the culture, and other time’s it’s simply ignorance…and it’s not always clear where to draw the dividing line.
For instance, the fact that people of East Asian descent in the UK are commonly referred to as “Orientals” really bothered me when I was there: to my ears “Oriental” is associated with my grandfather’s stories of being discriminated against in the 1930s, and it feels racist and outdated. But it was clear that the people who were using the term over there were completely unaware of this perception––London University even still has a School of Oriental and African Studies.
Posted 19 Mar 2009 at 6:57 pm ¶
karak wrote:
Anyone that thinks that all Southeast Asian cultures are the same is a an idiot. Anyone who insists on that truth in the face of gentle correction is a racist jerk. And anyone who insists on MAKING FACES in an adult conversation is so stupid and disgusting, I don’t even have words.
I’ve been to Japan and China, and the people are completely different– I would argue that the differences, including some of facial features, are more pronounced between those two countries than between, say, France and Spain.
Posted 19 Mar 2009 at 7:07 pm ¶
BSK wrote:
Racism is racism no matter where it is. Wrong is wrong no matter where it is. We often run the risk of succumbing entirely to relativism, where objectively objectionable behavior becomes excusable because of contextual differences. Somethings do need to be evaluated based on the local standard, but many can be objectively determined to be wrong and must be called as such. I cannot imagine any scenarios that would make racism acceptable in any context, specifically the type that you described here.
Posted 19 Mar 2009 at 7:17 pm ¶
Kai wrote:
Nicely done, Wendi.
I’m not sure about the statement “racism is relative”, but I would say that racism manifests differently in different socio-cultural contexts.
I used to chill with some Japanese Brazilian folks who were living in NYC for a while as part of a martial arts exchange program. They told me that Brazil, and South America in general, is just as racist as the US despite its rainbow image. I believed them. Then again, Fujimoro got elected president of neighboring Peru, something which the US is totally not ready to do (i.e. elect an Asian president). And of course, we see Chavez in Venezuela and Morales in Bolivia taking on the white power structures in their countries and meeting plenty of resistance. Not to mention indigenous movements from Chiapas to, well, everywhere.
I just want to drill down on one small detail for a moment, in order to make a point about how racism works. Here’s how the eye-pulling gesture is described:
Non-Asian folks often think that pulling their eyes sideways makes them looking like Asians. But take a careful look at the Miley Cirus pic. Do any of the pulled eyes of the white folks actually resemble the eyes of the Asian kid? No.
Asian eyes, in reality, tend to have different shapes than non-Asian eyes but do not resemble non-Asian eyes being pulled sideways. That is simply a false thought which exists in the racist imagination. And this racist thought actually overrides our physical perception, so that people think “Asian eyes look this way” rather than seeing the actual physical evidence they encounter day in and day out. They see what’s in their head instead of in front of their faces. And that’s part of how racism works. Racist socialization refracts our perception through a series of false constructs and distorts reality. The work of anti-racism is about peeling away or blowing away those false constructs and getting back to seeing what’s really in front of us.
Posted 19 Mar 2009 at 7:42 pm ¶
Jason wrote:
sigh.
I don’t think you are over reacting. And Im sure you have dealt with this so often , in hindsight we think we know what you do, but you never really can tell.
I’ve decided the best way for me to deal with these types is to keep it short sweet and to the point. I don’t try to explain “thousands of years” to someone whose A: been around for over 25 years ( you said teachers lounge so I just assumed) B: knows where a Asian restaurant is ( so its not like he’s never been around Asians before) and is C: a freaking adult for goodness sake.
Posted 19 Mar 2009 at 8:31 pm ¶
NancyP wrote:
On the other hand, “Chinese” restaurants may be owned and run by Koreans or Vietnamese, with two menus, one for the Anglos who want erzatz “Chinese” comfort food, one for the compatriots and adventurous Anglos who want actual Korean or Vietnamese dishes.
(This has little to do with the BT episode past the first sentence – BT just kept putting the rude shoe in his mouth).
Posted 19 Mar 2009 at 8:47 pm ¶
Nathan wrote:
@ Lola/wendi/Joseph,
There’s a bit more to it than simply the “Americans overreact/are oversensitive” and code-words for post-Racialism.
You also have to keep in mind that for most of the world, you are also the local representatives of our not-always-Friendly Imperial Overlords.
Posted 19 Mar 2009 at 9:25 pm ¶
Lxy wrote:
To me, that Brazilian guy was not making the slant eye gesture in a racially neutral way to simply explain what he was saying.
He was doing it to mock what he believes are defining East Asian physical traits.
The giveaway is how he keeps on laughing (hysterically) about it everytime he does “the Miley Cyrus.”
If that’s not racist, what is?
This attempt at *denigration* is more offensive than how he homogenizes/confuses Japanese and Chinese people.
And the people who love to make this gesture apparently have no clue how childish they appear.
This is a damn playground taunt that is prolly beneath anybody over the age of 12.
I wonder if these people also spend their free time giving wedgies or asking random strangers to pull their finger?
Posted 19 Mar 2009 at 10:42 pm ¶
Afro-chan wrote:
Great post Wendi. Do you have lots of contact with Brazilians of Japanese descent in your area? What do they feel about the “pulling of the eyes” sort of thing. [It seems] in Japan the Nikkei seem to identify strongly with their Brazilian side even if they have spent the majority of their life in Japan and take great offense to anything negative being said/done to Latin Americans.
I thought race was tricky in Latin America because how people define it is different than the US. In P. Rico and the Dom. Republic everyone says it doesn’t exist. When you are alone with your darker skinned friends they will say that’s not true. In Mexico I found many people only saw racism as a US black-white issue (Memín Pinguín anyone) and discrimination against indigenous peoples is “different”.
Thanks again for these articles. I don’t know what to do when Japanese people start making fun of Chinese, Indians or Filipinos. I too often think, “Is it different here than back home? Am I overreacting?”
Posted 19 Mar 2009 at 11:44 pm ¶
C wrote:
I’m sorry, Wendi, but I don’t understand how these racist comments required a lengthy cerebral exercise to determine what constitutes racism in Brazil. Isn’t painting a group of people with the same brush/lumping together desperate peoples in a single category because of their skin color always racist? I’m not espousing absolutism in racial politics, but what sort of national history would make the offensive comments in question acceptable? In cases such as this, it’s probably okay to go with one’s gut, acknowledge the red flag signaling racism that goes up in your mind without fear of being an oversensitive American.
Posted 19 Mar 2009 at 11:55 pm ¶
Veronica wrote:
When I was working in Japan, someone I worked for would do that “miley cyrus” face whenever he talked about Chinese people. It made me uncomfortable, but I didn’t say anything because I hoped it was just a translation issue and that he wasn’t just being racist.
Posted 20 Mar 2009 at 1:21 am ¶
laluna wrote:
This post made me think of my mother. She’s Central American and pure Kekchi Mayan. Sometimes people think she’s a Philipina because of her slanted eyes and she FREAKS out every time. She’ll inevitable say something messed up like one time she actually said “I’m not some ching chong Chinaman” to someone who tried to speak Tagalog to her. My mother HATES Asian people and brings it up all the time. It’s so strange to me because I can’t get down with brown people hating each other but her feelings are so deeply ingrained I know there’s no changing her mind.
Posted 20 Mar 2009 at 1:32 am ¶
little mixed girl wrote:
Anyone that lives overseas should be able to pick up on how different the US is from other countries in race-relations.
It’s really one of those things I’m not sure how to confront, because as some ppl mentioned it seems that overseas, Americans are seen as oversensitive and racism is seen as an American only issue.
It’s even harder because this isn’t my country, so how do I confront the person about racism without sounding like I’m some bossy American….
Posted 20 Mar 2009 at 8:35 am ¶
Grace (blackbelt) wrote:
Hatred comes in all all languages, education, culture, religions, genders. The hand gestures may change, but the heart is still bruised.
Posted 20 Mar 2009 at 9:06 am ¶
Charles J wrote:
Having only spending a short amount of time in Salvador De Bahia. I have come to the conclusion that there definitely is racism in Brazil. I saw blatant colorism issues as soon as I got of the plane and entered my hotel. Everyone who was lighter skinned worked the white color jobs at the hotel (desk clerk etc), but the majority of the people who carried my bags and doing the manuel labor where all dark.
Posted 20 Mar 2009 at 9:45 am ¶
wendi muse wrote:
exactly, little mixed girl. i think that’s why i engage in such a “lengthy cerebral exercise” as C wrote in comment #37. now given, when this happened, i immediately thought “Racist” and filed the teacher away in my “i have totally lost respect for you” brain compartment. but it was after the fact when i began to reflect on all of this. as i mentioned in a previous post about teaching english in another country, some situations put you in between a rock and a hard place. it’s like…i want to correct him respectfully, even though i totally disagree with the manner in which he is presenting his “humor,” but then i also dont want to have a knock em down, drag em out fight with him and be seen as the oversensitive, angry, black, female AMERICAN teacher. in some ways, if i had reacted like i would have in, say, the united states, by putting him in his place, a lot may have been lost in translation, and not just literally b/c i’d be speaking english, but because i’d be using terminology, ideas, and racial norms that i am conditioned to in a u.s. context and not a brazilian one. i would come off looking like someone who is trying to assert my own ideas on what is racist and what is not, as an american.
i think that also, much like in the united states when there are discussions like this, following an incident of racism, one is perceived as the improper messenger if you stand in to defend another group of people. i’m black and american…and here i am defending people of asian descent. how strange?! some people would think, but as i said in the piece, racism is insulting to the listener, even if not directly affected by the slur or racist act, because the speaker is assuming you are dumb enough to agree or accept what is being said/done.
Posted 20 Mar 2009 at 10:45 am ¶
grateful listener wrote:
I think a few people have referred to the eerily similar racist policy and beliefs in Brazil to those of the US, since the presence of black slaves. But PBS/Frontline dedicated a program to these issues last year, which I thought showed the extent of this: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/episodes/brazil-in-black-and-white/introduction/965/.
Posted 20 Mar 2009 at 11:28 am ¶
Beth wrote:
My little sister was in kindergarden in another country, and during a unit on Chinese fairy tales the whole class sang a song while doing the Miley Cyrus. To me this was shocking and offensive, but the teacher’s perspective was that they were studying a different culture, and it was a physical descriptor to help the children respect the culture without thinking it was theirs. Her view was that she was trying to encourage knowledge and understanding, without appropriation or the assumption that other cultures are just like ours only somewhere else.
I’m not sure I believe her, but my sister certainly knows the difference between various Asian cuisines (she’ll even get snooty about people who lump all Chinese food into a single category), so it may not have done any lasting damage. I suspect that part of it was the specificity; the teacher never generalized it to other Asian countries. It was probably also that the class was very racially diverse, and so the teacher made it clear that the Korean child was learning about a culture-not-her-own just as my blond-haired, blue-eyed sister was.
Posted 20 Mar 2009 at 1:23 pm ¶
miss a. wrote:
Beth – despite what the teacher’s intentions may have been, there are better ways to espouse cultural differences than making the chink eye. I understand that she did not use it in a direct, mocking manner, but it doesn’t excuse or condone her behavior. And citing that your sister’s extensive knowledge of Chinese food doesn’t necessarily make for the most convincing argument of the ephemeral effect it had on her.
Posted 20 Mar 2009 at 3:31 pm ¶
wendi muse wrote:
afro-chan: to answer your question about how japanese-brazilians and other brazilians of asian descent feel about this gesture, i have no idea. then again, that is not always a proper way to gauge what is racist and what is not (whether or not some members of the community accept it as ok). i mean, look at the kid in the miley cyrus picture who is asian-american. he’s not exactly punching anyone in the face, you know?
we have asian-brazilian teachers, but none of them were present at the time of the incident. i wonder if he would have felt so comfortable performing his charminig little act if one were present. funny enough, the teacher who made the offensive gesture and equally (if not more so) offensive comments has a lot of students of japanese-brazilian, which kind of complicates this tale a little more. i wonder does he ever call them by the wrong names, since they all, you know, look alike? hmm…i should ask him
Posted 20 Mar 2009 at 4:19 pm ¶
Paz wrote:
@Charles J (#42) – I went to Salvador on a school trip, and our guide, who is a dark-skinned black Brazilian, was talking to us, and the bellboy (no surprise, dark skinned black) expressed shock/amazement that a black Brazilian could learn English and travel to the U.S.
Posted 20 Mar 2009 at 4:21 pm ¶
nechama wrote:
I definitely agree with Wendi that situations like this cannot be immediately labeled “racist” and tossed aside. There are HUGE differences between societies on how much racism is considered acceptable. I live in Colombia and teach at the most radical, liberal public university in Bogotá and everyday I am shocked by the blatantly racist things that come out of my students’ and friends’ mouths (”blacks are violent” “blacks are dirty” “peruvians are all really ugly”). There are very few Colombians who would be considered “white” in the US – most have dark hair and light or light brown skin, while there are also lots of Afrocolombians and indigenous people. But racism is extremely prevalent here and I’ve found it’s hard to talk about the same way one would in the US. It’s important to realize the US does not have a monopoly on racism.
I think what Wendi is getting at is not to “under-react” to the racism but to react with…a kind of shocked incredulity rather than outright anger. For example, when my roommate told me that all indigenous people are lazy I proceeded to ask him 100 different questions about distribution of resources and education in Colombia, until he became silent on the topic. Maybe that’s still an over-reactive American approach but I think it’s better than just shutting down in anger.
Posted 20 Mar 2009 at 6:59 pm ¶
PatrickInBeijing wrote:
Hi Wendi, great post, and as usual an interesting discussion. One option in such a case is to tell the person making the face that they should be careful if they go to other countries, because in many countries it would be considered offensive. This sometimes works because it suggests you are trying to protect them from the potential wrath of “others” rather than your own anger.
(I suggest this it seemed like you felt unable to express your own feelings about it clearly. As an American (white male) living in another country, I am often in the same position, I want to teach, but I certainly don’t want to be the guy with all the answers (I AM NOT).)
It also turns it into an informational issue, and a potential neutral topic for discussion (how are expressions about race seen in various places). And it becomes a “just so you know” kind of thing rather than a criticism which might be seen as an “attack” or the heavy hand of arrogant Americanism (slang for Americans sometimes translates into “those who think they know everything and never listen to others”).
Good luck!
Posted 20 Mar 2009 at 8:45 pm ¶
Rchoudh wrote:
Very well thought out post Wendy and thank you for taking the time to educate us on how race is viewed in Brazil! Now about the topic at hand I agree with Wenday that racism can be relative when it comes to understanding the context behind certain terms, phrases, or actions that occur in other countries. But at its basis racism is racism no matter how you slice it. And some racist terms, actions, and phrases are universally acknowledged to be offensive (like the Myley Cyrus) and only an unrepentant racist wouldn’t acknowledge that.
Racist terms, phrases, or actions that may have to be contextualized include this example. I’ve travelled abroad and the countries I’ve been to all sell the Tom and Jerry unedited DVD’s. Now without understanding the racist history behind the depictions of Mammy character in America and how that relates to the generally racist depictions of blacks in American history, most people living abroad would not readily understand that the Tom and Jerry’s Mammy character was a racist caricature used to amuse Americans in the past. To some non Americans, the mammy character could even be presumed to be a caricature of fat women instead of fat black women. So unless someone who’s American or familiar with American history explains the context behind this character and what she represents, very few people would readily understand how the character can be seen as being racist. I also think that once others familiarized with the context behind certain racist terms, phrases or actions originating from another country, most often (unless they’re unrepentant racists) they’ll agree about the racist nature behind these notions.
Posted 21 Mar 2009 at 1:23 pm ¶
luckyfatima wrote:
As for what Wendi Muse has described of a person using racist language like this, I am in this situation often. If I can, I just say, “Stuff like that sounds ignorant,” or “That’s not very nice.” or “God created all kinds of beauty and gave each person what suits them,” (like when someone insults another group’s typical physical features)
But other than that, I am not sure what to do.
I am also a foreigner and rarely interact with people of my own background…I also don’t want to be an annoying know it all American (the rest of the world doesn’t NEED us lecturing them on their countries’ racial dynamics) but sometimes you just hear some really ignorant sh”t and you can’t keep your mouth shut.
Posted 21 Mar 2009 at 2:28 pm ¶
somedude wrote:
@Rchoudh
In the UK, most people think that Tom is her cat and that is her house. The Mammy stereotype is not very well known here.
Posted 21 Mar 2009 at 2:49 pm ¶
nick wrote:
This may be slightly off-topic, so apologies in advance.
I watched Tom & Jerry cartoons as a kid and don’t remember any “Mammy” character, so I guess the ones I saw were edited.
But the topic reminds me of something else…. Golliwogs.
I remember them as a kid (specifically Noddy in Town Town) and although they were black, I never associated them with black people. They behaved in a rascally fashion, but only in the context of a kids show. I remember being surprised, and dismayed, when I first realised they were seen as a derogatory depiction of people of colour.
I guess what I’m wondering is, if there was no racist intent, is something really racist? Can’t a black doll just be a black doll and not a slur against people of a certain skin tone?
Again, also slightly off-topic. A friend of mine spent time in Korea teaching english to primary school children. They would often imitate her appearance by pulling their eyelids upwards to make their eyes appear rounder. There was no malicious intent, it was their way of (i assume) physically describing her appearance.
Now, they were kids. But if adults use the same method for the same reason (short-hand method of describing someone’s appearance) is that racist and therefore wrong?
Slightly rambling post, but I wanted to put it out there.
Posted 21 Mar 2009 at 6:54 pm ¶
Safiya Outlines wrote:
Cosign with somedude.
I’m British and growing up it never occurred to me that the Mammy stereotypes used in Tom and Jerry, Muppet babies et al were anything other then the owners.
Likewise with Uncle Ben, which we have here. I think most British people don’t know the history behind that name either.
Posted 21 Mar 2009 at 9:54 pm ¶
Titanis walleri wrote:
“In the UK, most people think that Tom is her cat and that is her house. ”
I think that might actually be the case in some of them, iirc (or they were edited to be that way after the fact).
Posted 22 Mar 2009 at 2:29 am ¶
Rchoudh wrote:
I realize now that my use of the term Mammy to describe the black female character in Tom and Jerry may have overlooked some of her characteristics. In other words I shouldn’t have been quick to label her as a Mammy because her depiction is more complicated than that. Nevertheless I still believe she was meant to uphold at least some negative stereotypes of black people that both existed and continue to exist in America. An example is that she did represent the Angry Black Women stereotype for the most part. Also the fact that MGM decided to edit out her character later on whenever Tom and Jerry came on TV in subsequent years leads me to believe that they were also aware of the racist implications behind her depiction.
As for your question Nick, which is worth asking in the context of this post, I believe that in order for a racist depiction to be labelled racist (if it’s not already clear that it’s racist like with the example you give of Golliwogs) I think intent and history are worth looking into before you can decisively label it as being racist.
For example when you asked about the making of dolls, first the intent has to be understood. Is the making of non white dolls meant to diversify its consumer base so that non white children can dolls to play with that resemble them? Next it should be seen how the dolls are created to resemble POC’s. If a non white doll is shown having exaggerated facial or bodily features, that should raise suspicion over the doll manufacturers’ intent. A look into the history behind certain exaggerated physical features used to depict non white groups in the past is very much worth looking into in order to see if the doll contains such features. So the making of non white dolls isn’t a problem if its intent is only to appeal to POC children and if its features closely resemble that of POC’s. However, if the doll seems to depict exaggerated features and there is a history behind how these features were used to depict non white groups in a racist fashion, then it can be safely assumed that the doll is a racist caricature of POC’s.
Same principles of intent and history can be applied to the way children do something that can be conferred as racist and the way adults do the same thing. Very often young children may unintentionally do something that can be deemed as being racist. If that’s the case then the child can be taught not to do such actions again and have it explained why such actions are hurtful. If an adult does the same racist action, however, it can be assumed to be racist especially if the adult continues to do it even after being told to stop. Very often unlike children adults who do something racist are aware of the history behind whatever racist gesture they’re engaging in.
Posted 22 Mar 2009 at 1:46 pm ¶
rengeko wrote:
i lived in brazil a little over 30 years ago, and i certainly thought it was racist then. it could be different now, but there was a definite color-grade. i don’t know much about the brazil-asia connection, but i can say that there was black-white racism.
Posted 23 Mar 2009 at 1:17 am ¶
Reiter wrote:
On the flip side, there’s the anime series Michiko e Hatchin that takes place in Brazil and features some really interesting POC characters. I just found it odd that a Japanese animation company (Manglobe) would set its story and characters in Latin America of all places but it really is an entertaining show with really engaging characters. I suppose it provides a brief glimpse into how some Japanese may view Brazil, at least.
Posted 24 Mar 2009 at 7:43 pm ¶
Luis wrote:
“The mixing of cultures in Brazil and the subsequent development of the idea of nationalism among brazilians seemed so different from the US where everyone is hyphenated and by extension fragmented (african-american, chinese-american, italian-american, etc.). I remember a conversation w/ my professor about the construction of race in Brazil and I said “it’s fascinating b/c Brazil is a place where everyone is just brazilian.” She stopped me and said “yes, but in brazil you have “nippo-brazilians” (used to refer to Japanese brazilians or Asian brazilians) they are hyphenated so what does that mean?” That question showed me that even in a supposed racial utopia, race is still an issue.”
I had to quote this, because it is so essential. There is a misunderstanding about the so-called racial utopias of Latin America. There is a way that allowing for black and mixed members of nations with large amounts of African-descended people (Caribbean, Brazil) is a calculated measure to protect the nation against a mobilized black population. It doesn’t mean there isn’t antiblack racism, there certainly is, just that there is a rhetoric that admits our place in the national character in order to silence any claims of exclusion.
This exact process of consolidation happened to ethnic whites, Scots, Irish, Italians, Jews, etc., who were once considered neither white nor American in the 19th century. Keeping the relatively small black population out was useful. In Brazil and the Spanish Caribbean, people of African-descent can be half or more of the population, so that’s not possible. Like the U.S., Asians are a small percentage of countries like Brazil and occupy a very similar position as perpetual foreigners. Even the various positive stereotypes associated with them across the hemisphere cannot save them from this. So in Brazil, as in the United States, they are hyphenated groups, mediated citizens.
–Dominicanyork in Residence
Posted 25 Mar 2009 at 9:24 pm ¶
Adrianna wrote:
racism is not a Northern hemisphere thing. I can’t tell you how many times I have had this same discussion here in Haiti. I had to also explain to people that no you can’t do the eye gesture ,cause it’s racist and no all Asian people are not Chinese and no they don’t all look alike and your Asian women fetish is creepy and that I find it creepier that is the only reason you want to go to Japan. Unfortunately you seem not be able to have a frank discussion on race with some people whichever country their from.
Posted 29 Mar 2009 at 5:49 pm ¶
Moni wrote:
I have spent time in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, and believe me…the racism is there. My first time there I was incensed at the way I was treated by middle class white Brazilians at the mall and at museums when they assumed that I was a black Brazilian. When I started trying to speak in Portuguese, their attitude would change…”Ah, Americana” folks would say…the white Brazilians that I talked to always tried to say that people didn’t mistreat me and black Brazilians because we are black, but that it was a class issue not a race issue. Like that is somehow better. I love going to Brazil and I will return there in a couple of months, but I don’t look forward to the mistreatment that I face when I am there….
Posted 01 Apr 2009 at 12:27 am ¶
Lnk wrote:
Funny fact: I live in SP, near Liberdade (the majorly asian-populated quarter of São Paulo and bigger asian-descendant population out of Japan) and have a japanese neighbour. She speaks portuguese with a thick accent and I don’t know how many years she lives in Brazil.
I’m typically carioca and “morena clara”, my husband is very white and italian descendant.
One morning she excused herself for not recognizing us in the street and said it was difficult to her to differentiate western people (she used the word “ocidental”) for WE LOOK ALL EQUAL to her and she tended to think we all looked the same.
I found it an interesting turn from the average “asians are all the same” and it kept me thinking how many japanese have the same problem as her.
Posted 14 Oct 2009 at 12:20 pm ¶