The Color of Modernity: S縊 Paulo and the Making of Race and Nation in Brazil (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780822357773)

In The Color of Modernity, Barbara Weinstein focuses on race, gender, and regionalism in the formation of national identities in Brazil; this focus allows her to explore how uneven patterns of economic development are consolidated and understood. Organized around two principal episodes--the 1932 Constitutionalist Revolution and 1954's IV Centen疵io, the quadricentennial of S縊 Paulo's founding--this book shows how both elites and popular sectors in S縊 Paulo embraced a regional identity that emphasized their European origins and aptitude for modernity and progress, attributes that became--and remain--associated with "whiteness." This racialized regionalism naturalized and reproduced regional inequalities, as S縊 Paulo became synonymous with prosperity while Brazil's Northeast, a region plagued by drought and poverty, came to represent backwardness and S縊 Paulo's racial "Other." This view of regional difference, Weinstein argues, led to development policies that exacerbated these inequalities and impeded democratization.


Author: Barbara Weinstein
ISBN-10: 0822357771
ISBN-13: 9780822357773
Publisher: Duke University Press
Language: English
Published: 03/04/2015
Pages: 472
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.39lbs
Size: 8.88h x 6.47w x 0.95d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 09/01/2015