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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 1 2 



ence to marriage and incorporation into the fam- 

 ily. The tendency has always been for whites 

 to marry whites and for blacks to marry blacks. 



At the same time, there has been a considerable 

 number of intermarriages, involving, at times, 

 even partners from the opposite ends of the color 

 scale. The marriage of mixed-bloods — mamelucos, 

 mulattoes, and cafmos — with whites has long been 

 a common phenomenon. 



The imprecision, from an anthropological point 

 of view, of local color categories, together with 

 the tendency of the several registrars involved to 

 "grade-up" individuals in the color scale, obvi- 

 ously reduces the value of village marriage records 

 in determining the actual extent of intermarriage. 

 The error, however, may be in the direction of 

 an understatement rather than an exaggeration. 

 Since there is a considerable number of individuals 

 in the commimity who are descended only from 

 European stock, the tendency to list actual pardos 

 in the white category undervalues the number of 

 cases of intermarriage which actually occur among 

 persons listed in that category. And, although it 

 is true that, in some cases where the registrar has 

 listed a pardo as marrying a white the "white" is 

 in fact a mixed-blood, the number of these cases 

 perhaps is less than the number of intermarriages 

 "hidden" in the white category. 



During the 17 years from ISJol to 1947, inclusive, 

 or that period during which color was taken ac- 

 count of in the marriage records of the community, 

 there were 315 marriages. Of the total, approxi- 

 mately two-thirds were listed as marriages of 

 brancos with brancas; that is, of white men with 

 white women, as these terms are employed locally, 

 [n approximately a sixth of the marriages, a 

 pardo was listed as marrying a branca; that is, a 

 medium-dark or dark mixed-blood man was listed 

 as marrying a white woman. In slightly less than 

 one-tenth of the marriages, a branco was listed as 

 marrying a parda; that is, a white man was listed 

 as marrying a medium-dark or dark mixed-blood. 

 There were no marriages recorded in which either 

 a branco married a preta or a preto married a 

 branca J- that is, in which a white man married a 

 black woman or a black man married a white 

 woman. This fact, however, is probably due more 

 to the tendency of the local registrar to "grade- 

 up" individuals in the color scale, under conditions 

 of primary contact, than to the complete absence 



of such marriages in the community, 

 are triven in table 16. 



These data 



Table 1G. 



-Marriages, by local designation of color, Cruz 

 das Almas Community, 1931-4~ ' 



1 Source: Oflicial records in village Cartorio. Marriaees in 1939 (21 cases) 

 are omitted because in that year spouses were not specifled by color. 

 ' Japanese. 



In the village and on nearby farms there are 

 seven married couples, of which one of the spouses 

 is white and the other of relatively pure Negro or 

 Negro-Indian origin. In every case except one, 

 the while partner is a man. The respective colors 

 and ages are as follows : 



Man white, 65 ; woman black, with kinky hair, 48. 

 Man white, 45 ; woman black, with kinky hair, 37. 

 Man white, 25; woman Mack, with kinky hair, 28. 

 Man white, 48 ; woman cafusa. with "straight" hair, 



45. 

 Man white, 32, woman cafusa, with kinky hair, 26. 

 Man white, 21 ; woman black, with kinky hair, 18. 

 Man black, with kinky hair, 45; woman white, 29. 



In all cases, the spouses are from the same eco- 

 nomic and educational level. In each case also, 

 the personal competence of the spouses is relatively 

 equal. 



It is questionable whether, from a realistic point 

 of view, one is justified in using the term "inter- 

 marriage" in connection with these cases. Cer- 

 tainly, they are not so thought of in the community. 

 The Portuguese term for intermarriage was coined 

 in recent years by specialists, and it is doubtful 

 if anyone in the community is familiar with it. 

 The term was not heard on the lips of a local resi- 

 dent during the course of this study. Nor are these 

 cases thought of by persons in the community as 

 in any way distinct from other cases of marriage. 

 This is not to say, of course, that local residents are 

 blind to obvious physical differences. If the mat- 

 ter is called to their attention, the fact of physical 

 variation will readily be admitted. The attitude 



