Since the 1970s there has been a dramatic rise in the Indian population in Brazil as increasing numbers of pardos (individuals of mixed African; European; and indigenous descent) have chosen to identify themselves as Indians. In Racial Revolutions—the first book-length study of racial formation in Brazil that centers on Indianness—Jonathan W. Warren draws on extensive fieldwork and numerous interviews to illuminate the discursive and material forces responsible for this resurgence in the population. The growing number of pardos who claim Indian identity represents a radical shift in the direction of Brazilian racial formation. For centuries; the predominant trend had been for Indians to shed tribal identities in favor of non-Indian ones. Warren argues that many factors—including the reduction of state-sponsored anti-Indian violence; intervention from the Catholic church; and shifts in anthropological thinking about ethnicity—have prompted a reversal of racial aspirations and reimaginings of Indianness. Challenging the current emphasis on blackness in Brazilian antiracist scholarship and activism; Warren demonstrates that Indians in Brazil recognize and oppose racism far more than any other ethnic group. Racial Revolutions fills a number of voids in Latin American scholarship on the politics of race; cultural geography; ethnography; social movements; nation building; and state violence. Designated a John Hope Franklin Center book by the John Hope Franklin Seminar Group on Race; Religion; and Globalization.
#5877701 in Books 2010-05-08Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.00 x 6.00 x 2.75l; 3.75 #File Name: 08204746221110 pages
Review
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful. The heart of the matterBy Ejcl IsaacsBe impressed and a little afraid. Impressed; because unlike most modern commentators; Gershon Hepner is a genuine; independent minded; highly imaginative writer not concerned with appeasing members of the academy or following scholars blinkered by a system. Although; clearly familiar with both ancient and modern scholarship. Dr Hepner's commitment is to the Biblical text. It is this which he turns and turns compelling the reader to think and to think again. As a poet; he weighs each word and the tone of each phrase. As a physician; he conducts a forensic investigation into every aspect of his subject.This book adds his name to the small fistful of key contemporary Torah scholars such as Aviva Zornberg; Diana Lipton; Catherine Madsen and W; Gunter Plaut. Don't miss it !Jane Liddell-King
