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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 12 



obvious evidences of Indian or African origin. 

 As is to be expected, given the rather extensive 

 operation of the process of amalgamation wliicli, 

 however, has covered only a limited number of 

 generations, there is a large variety of mixtures 

 of Indian, African, and European characteristics. 

 The determination, in the case of a given indi- 

 vidual, of the precise contribution of each of the 

 three racial stocks would be an exceedingly diffi- 

 cult procedure. In general, however, the Indian 

 contribution has been considerably greater than 

 the African. 



Racial categories are not employed in the vital 

 statistics of the community. As has been indi- 

 cated, color categories are used instead, there being 

 thi-ee principal distinctions : tranco (white) , freto 

 (black), and pardo (intermediate).^"^ As is true 

 in other parts of Brazil, these categories have lim- 

 ited meaning in terms of physical anthropology. 

 Tliey are sociological, rather than anthropologi- 

 cal, categories; that is, they reflect what local 

 residents consider the terms to mean and also the 

 way whites in the comnmnity behave toward per- 

 sons of color. If a given individual appears to 

 the registrar to look more like a white than a 

 black or a pardo he is listed as a white, even though 

 to persons sensitized to racial distinctions, and 

 especially to the trained specialist, physical traits 

 of non-European origin are clearly observable. 



These categories are sociological in the further 

 fact that the listing of a given individual reflects 

 the relation to him of the person who is making 

 the listing. If the registrar is a particular friend 

 of the person in question, or of his family, an 

 obvious black in all likelihood will be listed as a 

 pardo and an obvious pardo as a "white." This 

 may also occur if, on the day in question, the per- 

 son doing the listing happens to be in an espe- 

 cially friendly mood or otherwise to be more than 

 usiuilly well-disposed toward the person being 

 listed. The tendency to "grade-up" individuals 

 in the color scale, especially under conditions of 

 primary contact, is marked. 



In fact, this tendency has become so extensive in 

 Brazil that it may be said to now constitute an 

 expected pattern of behavior. To fail to refer to 

 a black, especially in his presence, as if he were at 

 least a pardo, and to a pardo as if he were a white, 

 is considered "bad form." It indicates that the 



808 "Yellow'* is also used to refer to an occasional Japanese. 



individual is lacking in that personal character- 

 istic so emphasized in the local mores, namely, 

 "knowing how to treat others well." 



Thus, according to the official records of births 

 kept by the village registrar, no black was born 

 in the distnto during the 17 years from 1931 to 

 1947, or that period for which data on the color 

 of births, in comparatively recent years, are avail- 

 able. Casual observation, however, reveals that 

 there are in the village and nearby area a number 

 of children under 17 years of age who, to all ap- 

 pearances are of relatively unmixed African ori- 

 gin. At least 27 blacks in this age group were 

 observed. 



Little attention is paid in other respects to 

 either racial or color variations. One rarely refers 

 to a given person as other than Joao or Maria. If 

 one has occasion to speak of his color, the three 

 categories mentioned above usually are employed, 

 although rarely in the presence of the person in 

 question. Only in extreme anger is the fact of 

 obvious physical difference referred to. A black 

 person is never called a "Negro" (Pierson, 1942, 

 p. 138) to his face except in a quarrel. Ordinarily 

 he will not even be referred to as a preto (black). 

 He will simply be called an homem (man). "A 

 man may be a black," said a white villager, "but he 

 is also a person." 



At the same time, prestige definitely attaches 

 to white color, a fact not difficult to understand 

 in the light of Brazilian history. Shortly after 

 the arrival of the Europeans, the whites became 

 dominant ecologically, economically, politically, 

 and culturally. The only way for an individual of 

 Indian or African origin to compete effectively 

 was to take over significant elements of the white's 

 culture. Under these circumstances, white color 

 easily became symbolic of superior status. 



These statements will perhaps be more clear if 

 we consider the participation of persons from the 

 various ethnic groups in the social life of the com- 

 mimity. Persons of color will be invited, just like 

 anyone else, to the house of a white. They will 

 eat at the white's table. They will participate 

 with whites in religious, as well as secular, fesfas. 

 They will in no way be discriminated against in 

 friendship, in employment, in voting, or in treat- 

 ment by local officials. 



In the groups of conversation which form spon- 

 taneously at the vendas and elsewhere in the vil- 



