Essay Question: What is the difference between the way race is defined in the United States and in Brazil? List the Brazilian folk taxonomy of "tipos" and how to translate "tipos" into U.S. racial categories.
Race is a myth. In another word, what looks like a difference in biological variability, is in fact, merely a difference in cultural classification. Similarly, anthropologist have stressed that U.S. racial groups are American cultural structures that depict the way Americans categorize people, rather than it be “a genetically determined reality (Spradley and McCurdy 200).” In addition, there is no biological origin for classifying race based on skin color, other than based on biological or environmental variations in body form (Spradley …show more content…
While the American system classifies people based on the hypo-descent rule, the Brazilian system classifies them based on what they look like (Spradley and McCurdy 206). Brazil’s direct translation for “race” is “tipos (Spradley and McCurdy 205).” In Brazil, “tipos” stand for a multitude of physical variations that differ from the arbitrary categories created by Americans. Brazilians have a multiplicity of classifications that fall within a wide spectrum of skin colors and phenotypes. This is illustrated, by the following classifications found in Brazil: “1) loura (whiter-than-white, straight blonde hair, blue or green eyes, light skin color, narrow nose, and thin lips, 2) branca (light skin color, eyes of any color, hair of any color or form, except tight curly, a nose that is not broad, and lips that are not thick), 3) morena (has brown or black hair that is wavy or curly but not tight curly), 4) mulata (looks like a morena, except with tight curly hair and a slightly darker range of hair colors and skin colors), 5) preta (looks like a mulata, except with dark brown skin, broad nose, and thick lips), 6) sarara (tight curly blond (or Red) hair, light skin, blue (or green eyes), broad nose, and thick lips), and 7) cabo verbe (straight black hair, dark skin, brown eyes, narrow nose, and thin lips) (Spradley and McCurdy 206).” To our point, it is evident in Brazil’s taxonomy structure above that their racial …show more content…
Fish, “Americans believe that race is an immutable biological given (Spradley and McCurdy 206)” and therefore, could not be altered. The fallacy of this idea, however, is illustrated just a plane ride away in Brazil. In Brazil an American’s phenotypical identity falls within a greater spectrum of grouping (Spradley and McCurdy 206). While in America our “manifested biology” falls within a rigid classification system, in contrast, in Brazil we are placed among a more phenotype specific system that identifies the uniqueness in us all. For instance, if Brazilians were asked to classify all their people into two groups they would draw the line between morenas and mulatas, while Americans would draw the line between brancas and morenas, therefore, having a skewed view of the unique traits of the human species (Spradley and McCurdy
Race is a myth. In another word, what looks like a difference in biological variability, is in fact, merely a difference in cultural classification. Similarly, anthropologist have stressed that U.S. racial groups are American cultural structures that depict the way Americans categorize people, rather than it be “a genetically determined reality (Spradley and McCurdy 200).” In addition, there is no biological origin for classifying race based on skin color, other than based on biological or environmental variations in body form (Spradley …show more content…
While the American system classifies people based on the hypo-descent rule, the Brazilian system classifies them based on what they look like (Spradley and McCurdy 206). Brazil’s direct translation for “race” is “tipos (Spradley and McCurdy 205).” In Brazil, “tipos” stand for a multitude of physical variations that differ from the arbitrary categories created by Americans. Brazilians have a multiplicity of classifications that fall within a wide spectrum of skin colors and phenotypes. This is illustrated, by the following classifications found in Brazil: “1) loura (whiter-than-white, straight blonde hair, blue or green eyes, light skin color, narrow nose, and thin lips, 2) branca (light skin color, eyes of any color, hair of any color or form, except tight curly, a nose that is not broad, and lips that are not thick), 3) morena (has brown or black hair that is wavy or curly but not tight curly), 4) mulata (looks like a morena, except with tight curly hair and a slightly darker range of hair colors and skin colors), 5) preta (looks like a mulata, except with dark brown skin, broad nose, and thick lips), 6) sarara (tight curly blond (or Red) hair, light skin, blue (or green eyes), broad nose, and thick lips), and 7) cabo verbe (straight black hair, dark skin, brown eyes, narrow nose, and thin lips) (Spradley and McCurdy 206).” To our point, it is evident in Brazil’s taxonomy structure above that their racial …show more content…
Fish, “Americans believe that race is an immutable biological given (Spradley and McCurdy 206)” and therefore, could not be altered. The fallacy of this idea, however, is illustrated just a plane ride away in Brazil. In Brazil an American’s phenotypical identity falls within a greater spectrum of grouping (Spradley and McCurdy 206). While in America our “manifested biology” falls within a rigid classification system, in contrast, in Brazil we are placed among a more phenotype specific system that identifies the uniqueness in us all. For instance, if Brazilians were asked to classify all their people into two groups they would draw the line between morenas and mulatas, while Americans would draw the line between brancas and morenas, therefore, having a skewed view of the unique traits of the human species (Spradley and McCurdy