{"product_id":"legalizing-identities-jan-hoffman-french-9780807859513","title":"Legalizing Identities: Becoming Black or Indian in Brazil's Northeast","description":"Anthropologists widely agree that identities--even ethnic and racial ones--are socially constructed. Less understood are the processes by which social identities are conceived and developed. \u003ci\u003eLegalizing Identities\u003c\/i\u003e shows how law can successfully serve as the impetus for the transformation of cultural practices and collective identity. Through ethnographic, historical, and legal analysis of successful claims to land by two neighboring black communities in the backlands of northeastern Brazil, Jan Hoffman French demonstrates how these two communities have come to distinguish themselves from each other while revising and retelling their histories and present-day stories. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrench argues that the invocation of laws by these related communities led to the emergence of two different identities: one indigenous (Xoco Indian) and the other quilombo (descendants of a fugitive African slave community). With the help of the Catholic Church, government officials, lawyers, anthropologists, and activists, each community won government recognition and land rights, and displaced elite landowners. This was accomplished even though anthropologists called upon to assess the validity of their claims recognized that their identities were \"constructed.\" The positive outcome of their claims demonstrates that authenticity is not a prerequisite for identity. French draws from this insight a more sweeping conclusion that, far from being evidence of inauthenticity, processes of construction form the basis of all identities and may have important consequences for social justice. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Jan Hoffman French\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0807859516\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780807859513\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of North Carolina Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/01\/2009\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 272\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.90lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.10h x 6.00w x 0.90d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChronicle of Higher Education\u003c\/i\u003e 06\/26\/2009 pg. 16\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 05\/01\/2010","brand":"Jan Hoffman French","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43926314221823,"sku":"9780807859513","price":37.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/products\/img_41b51240-59eb-47ae-80fd-fb5acaf46bd9.jpg?v=1681082380","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/legalizing-identities-jan-hoffman-french-9780807859513","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}