A Comparison of the United States, South Africa, and Brazil Anthony W. MarxPUBLISHED BY THE PRESS SYNDICATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS ‘The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211, USA 477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia Ruiz de Alarcén 13, 28014 Madrid, Spain Dock House, The Waterfront, Cape Town 8001, South Africa hup://www.cambridge.org © Anthony W, Marx 1998 ‘This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 1998 First paperback edition 1998 Reprinted 1999, 2002, 2003 Printed in the United States of America ‘Typeset in Janson ‘Acatalog record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication data is available ISBN 0 52158455 8 hardback ISBN 0 521 58590 2 paperback2 Trajectories from Colonialism How did differing experiences of colonialism and its aftereffects shape later racial orders? I begin with an examination of Brazil, where ar- guments for such historical determinacy have been employed to ex- plain the later lack of racial domination. To check such arguments, I then turn to comparisons with the colonies that would become South Africa and the United States. Portuguese Brazil The image of a Portuguese colonial legacy of racial tolerance is tan- tamount to an official ideology, at least within the former colonial power. Modern Portuguese officials have claimed that among Fu- ropeans, their predecessors “alone practiced the principle of multi-racialism, which all now consider the most perfect and daring expression of human brotherhood . . . in which men are limited only by their ability.”' As early as 1923, the usually astute W. E. B. Du Bois agreed that “between the Portuguese and the African and the near-African there is naturally no racial antipathy — no accumulated historical hatreds, dislikes and despisings.”? According to Gilberto Freyre, the leading advocate of this thesis, “the absence of violent rancors due to race constitutes one of the peculiarities of the feudal system in the tropics,” characteristic of Portuguese rule. In their col- onies, the Portuguese supposedly pursued policies of incorporation more than imposition, consistent with a “plasticity of the national character, of its classes and institutions, which are never indurated or definitely stratified.” Colonial racial tolerance has been described as the result of Por- 29