Methodological reflections on race, racial classificationand reclassification

Abstract

This article aims to present the main forms of racial classification in force in the country, and how they interact with a range of racial categories mobilized by racism and racialization in Brazil. To this end, an immersion was made in the history of these categories and how they mobilize other important categories in the field of ethnic-racial relations, such as: race, color, skin color, and ethnicity. Thus, it is also being addressed how the race/color variable collected lacks greater refinement, especially when dealing with mortality rates and microdata on education in historical series, and when this variable is left aside it can lead to underreporting or a process that will be called here racial reclassification.