Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs
Brazil Initiative

CANCELED: João Vargas — Antiblackness, the Specter of the Haitian Revolution, and Brazilian Social Formation

Wednesday, April 22, 2020

12:00pm – 1:30pm

Joukowsky Forum, 111 Thayer Street 

João Vargas will propose that, beyond authoritarianism and racism -- as Bolsonaro's election suggests -- Brazilian society is structured by gendered antiblackness, a unique set of ontological principles, social representations and practices, and institutional protocols that fundamentally dehumanize and disadvantage Black people. The hatred of Black people, and the fear of Black revolt -- or a Haitian Revolution in Brazil -- is encrypted in Brazilian society and social thought.

João Vargas is a Professor of Anthropology at University of California Riverside.