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Du Bois and Brazil

Reflections on Black Transnationalism and African Diaspora

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 December 2021

Juliana Góes
Juliana Góes*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, MA, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Email: jgoes@umass.edu
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Abstract

In this article, I discuss Black transnational solidarity and liberation in the Americas by analyzing the historical relationship between W. E. B. Du Bois and Brazil from 1900 to 1940. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Du Bois was studying, writing, and publishing about Brazil. He was interested in creating international solidarity and cooperation among Black people. However, Du Bois (as well as other African Americans) promoted the idea that Brazil was a place without racism, a racial paradise. This idea served as a basis for a theory that oppressed Afro-Brazilians—the myth of racial democracy. In this article, I explore Du Bois’s relationship with Brazil, highlighting possible reasons why Du Bois engaged with the myth of racial democracy. In addition, I argue that this historical event teaches us that an Afro-diasporic liberation project must seriously consider global and material inequalities among Black people.

Keywords

Du BoisBlack TransnationalismAfrican DiasporaBrazilBlack Liberation
Type
State of the Art
Information
Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race , Volume 19 , Issue 2 , Fall 2022 , pp. 293 - 308
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Hutchins Center for African and African American Research

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