With, against, and beyond Antonio Sérgio A. Guimarães’s theory of Brazilian racism

Abstract

This article examines Antonio Sérgio A. Guimarães’s theoretical contribution to the sociology of racism in Brazil, while also pointing to the limits and contradictions arising from its academic and political success. We argue that Guimarães provided theoretical grounding and conceptual vocabulary to the dominant paradigm in the study of Brazilian race relations by advocating the analytical and nominalist use of the concept of race as an instrument for exposing Brazilian inequalities against the myth of racial democracy. However, the article identifies three central limits in the academic and political incorporation of this approach: first, an excessive emphasis on the ideological dimensions of racism at the expense of its practical dimensions and structural consequences; second, the reification of the constructivist concept of race, which tends to be mobilized as a trivial premise of research rather than as an object of empirical investigation; third, the paradoxical effects of the “defensive racialism” the author advocates, which, by calling for the political delimitation of racialized groups, has paradoxically contributed to their essentialization. We conclude that, in light of the transformations of the Brazilian political and academic context, it becomes necessary to critically revisit Guimarães’s theoretical legacy in order to advance from it and beyond it.