The 'pardo amazonian' and the construction of ethnic identities in Brazil

Abstract

The article analyzes the emergence of the category “Amazonian pardo” based on interviews conducted with evaluators who serve on heteroidentification committees at the Federal University of Amazonas. The aim is to understand how, within institutional processes of racial verification, evaluators themselves elaborate internal distinctions within the category “pardo,” producing the figure of the so-called Amazonian pardo, in reference to phenotypic characteristics associated with Indigeneity as an interpretive marker. Methodologically, this is a qualitative, interpretive study grounded in the thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews, articulated with the literature on racial classification, identity, and coloniality. The study shows that, in the Amazon region, the criteria mobilized in evaluations are restricted to phenotype, without incorporating territorial references, traits culturally associated with Indigeneity, or historical perceptions regarding regional formation. It is argued that the “Amazonian pardo” constitutes a relational and situated, but not exclusive, category, produced in the regional experience in the processes of heteroidentification within the scope of vacancy reservation policies.