McCALLUM Racialized Bodies

Racialized Bodies, Naturalized Classes: Moving through the City of Salvador da Bahia
Author(s): Cecilia McCallum

Source: American Ethnologist, Vol. 32, No. 1 (Feb., 2005), pp. 100-117
Published by: Wiley on behalf of the American Anthropological Association
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CECILIA MCCALLUM
Instituto de Saude Coletiva, Universidade Federal da Bahia
Racialized bodies, naturalized classes:

Moving through the city of Salvador da Bahia
Racialization takes place when differences between human beings are
A B S T R A C T
In this article, I describe racialization processes in

BraziL's third-largest urban center, Salvador da
simplified and transformed into Difference, overvaluing particular bodily

differences by imbuing them with lasting meaning of social, political,
cultural, economic, even psychological significance. Racialization is pro-
Bahia, focusing on a broadly defined field of social
duced and reproduced through ideological, institutional, interactive, and
practice. In a cross-class ethnographic portrait of
linguistic practices that support a particular construction of Difference.
the city, I examine the situated, embodied
Virginia R. Dominguez, 1994
production of meanings about the body, as

subjects move through urban space and time. I
The rift in the subject is paradoxically its capacity to move beyond itself, a
trace the emergence of racialization from residents'
movement that does not return to where it always was, identit,v as
microhistorical passages through the metropolis as
movement in the promising sense.
these sediment into a shared, if partial, knowledge
-Judith Butler, 1995
about difference and identity. I argue that it is

such knowledge, borne by subjects as they
acialization is the product of embodied experience, occurring
ceaselessly reconstruct themselves, that grounds
over time and through space. This is apparent from the essays
the mutual constitution of whiteness and of
and novels of many, mainly black, writers and intellectuals. But

anthropological studies of race have not addressed all of the
blackness in the city. Further, these processes

generate knowledge of the naturalization of class.
_implications of the embodied production of racialization. Two
Thus, if a uniting factor underlies the diversity of
questions, in particular, invite further exploration: How do embodied
discourses circulating in the city, it is the
practices reproduce entrenched society-vvide inequalities while both pro-
embodied by-product of subjective experience.
ducing and contesting the differences that underlie them? And how are
[racialization, class, subjectivity, identity,
such inequalities naturalized, for instance, as class? Such questions pose a
experience, Brazil, Salvador da Bahia]
methodological challenge to anthropology, one that I take up here in the

form of an ethnographic exploration of city dwellers' journeys across an
urban landscape, in time and space, constituted intersubjectively.
Ethnography as the movement of subjects also offers a fresh angle on
the study of race in Brazil. Two analytic traditions stand out in anthropological approaches to this topic: first, an emphasis on language analysis;
second, the recurrent problem of how language informs social difference.
This problem is often expressed, in sociological idiom, as a question about
the relation of race to class, a reflection of the powerful influence of
sociology on the anthropology of urban Brazil, which, I argue in what
AMERICANETHNOLOGIST, Vol. 32, No. 1, pp. 100-117, ISSN 0094-0496, electronic

ISSN 1548-1425. t3 2005 by the Axnerican Anthropological Association. All rights reserved
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Racialized bodies, naturalized classes * American Ethnologist
follows, has caused something of a methodological im-
sition between "us" as negro (black) and "them" as
passe when it comes to discussing racialization.
branco (white) in contexts of talk about class. In what
In studies of Salvador, the metropolis in focus here,
follows, I show that this negro-branco contrast, which
the articulation of the two traditions is evident. Race and
may be named (but often is not), is not best described as
class inequality there has long been described as extreme
a system of racial classification; further, it is more than
and entrenched (Azevedo 1959; Guimaraes 2002).1 More
evidence of a social order governed by a hegemonic
than 80 percent of the population is both poor and visibly
discourse. Sheriff's ethnography is rich in discussion of
Afro-descendant and most of the upper and upper-middle
all manner of social practice, not just discursive, so lifting
classes look European. Yet "Soteropolitans," as the city's
the above quotes from her work is somewhat unfair. But
natives are called, do not readily think of class position as
they do help my own purpose in highlighting the need to
determined by a racial identity. Indeed, one often hears
look beyond the role of language in creating the bounds of
claims that all Brazilians are a mixture of races. As else-
what people mean by "race." Thus, I follow the lead
where in Brazil, naming race is not straightforward. In
provided by Sheriff and others in emphasizing context
practice, a roomful of people have difficulty agreeing on
and practice, but I step beyond the methodological scope
each other's color. Interminable discussions occur in the
of in situ language analysis.
course of deciding which of many descriptive terms is

most appropriate for each person.
Sheriff shows that the processes affecting particular
subjectivities directly set up the naturalization of social
In the past, some scholars took the plethora of color
difference. Subjective experience, for example, of discrimi-
terms as evidence of a multipolar racial classification
nation and of poverty, informs racialization. She accesses
system and argued that Brazilians did not have clear racial
this experience, however, at secondhand, so to speak, de-
categories, which resulted in "racial harmony."2 In recent
scribing her subjects' stories about encounters outside
years, a heated debate has raged about whether Brazil's
the favela but offering few direct observations of cross-
racial system is unique or whether bipolarity like that in
class interaction in downtown Rio, at workplaces, schools,
the United States sustains a particularly perfidious, be-
clinics, and places of leisure.6 Indeed, community-based
cause disguised, form of racism.3 Those involved in the
ethnographies are not well adapted for studying the class
debate have tended to appeal to overarching categories
relations that span different localities in large urban cen-
such as "society" and "culture," at the expense of regional
ters. In effect, most anthropologists working on race in
differences. But as the debate unfolded, anthropologists
Brazil (myself included) find it hard not to think of "class,"
continued to provide fine-grained ethnographies of spe-
which is identified by demographers, theorized by sociolo-
cific groups, localities, and social movements.4 Further
gists, and experienced as oppression by informants, as an
work examined terminology. In Salvador, for example,
objective category. Although the effect is unintended, class
studies documented changes in use of racial terms, sig-
outside the favela comes across as a thing, rather than a
naling shifts in the social configuration of inequality (San-
social relation.
sone 1993; Silva 1993). Ethnographers focused more on
This observation is not meant as a criticism. Ethnog-
language in use than on classiElcation systems in isolation
raphy requires that the anthropologist embody a limited
(Maggie and Rezende 2001). Robin Sheriff's (2001) study of
set of subjective standpoints, which are best absorbed
a favela (low-income settlement) in Rio de Janeiro exam-
through extensive, empathetic coresidence. Embracing
ines the conscious manipulation of language and the
antagonistic views at the same time is hard, and being in
creative use of terminology in day-to-day life. She high-
two places at once impossible. Nevertheless, the problem
lights how speakers shift between a descriptive discourse
of hwow to study class ethnographically remains. The natu-
of race and a pragmatic discourse, depending on context,
ralization of difference in this kind of highly divided setting
and argues that these discourses neither regulate subjects'
involves the constant interaction of opposing standpoints
understandings of their own identities nor link to any more
in intersubjective encounters. Ideally, an ethnographer
profound set of multipolar categories. Opposing the +iiew
must find a way to appreciate the subtleties of a}l sides of
that racial identity in Brazil is fuzzy, however, she insists
these encounters.
that a third discourse the discourse of race, based on
Social practice theorists insist on the importance of
a black-white contrast operates at a deeper level. This,
unconscious dispositions embedded in habitus, said to
she suggests, emerges as "the only true system of racial
structure and be structured by social living (Bourdieu
classification in Brazil" (Sheriff 2001:57). This system both
1977, 1990, 1998). Importantly, all practice carries these
sets up "an essentialist, naturalized notion of racial being"
dispositions and does this symbolizing work. Therefore,
and allows a conscious awareness that blackness is "a
one must embrace a wide definition of social practice that
product of oppression" (Sheriff 2001:57).
includes but does not foreground discursive practice
The claims about underlying essentialism aside, this is
as exceptional. Wade makes a similar point in his discus-
an important point.5 Residents of the favela use an oppo-
sion of the problem of materialist-symbolist dualism:
lll
American Ethnologist * Volume 32 Number 1 February 2005
"Post-structuralist approaches to society and culture made
events and shape the processes of racialization in Salvador
a bid to resolve the problem by focusing on the discursive
more generally and (from an analyst's perspective) in a
constitution of material realities and the materiality of
more abstract sense?
discourse" (1999:451). He notes that often this endeavor
In short, I tackle racialization in what follows as it is
resulted in a retreat into discourse. His solution is to
constituted and experienced daily. The ethnography
expose the fusion of the symbolic and the material in
shows how meanings are produced intersubjectively in
embodied practice, taking embodiment as the existential
specific contexts that are connected to other such con-
grounds of culture (Csordas 1993). Racialization processes
texts as subjects move between them in real time and
may be taken as driven by the body in action.
space. By shifting the perspective on the constitution of
Wade makes his point through a discussion of a black
race in two directions away from a mainly cultural
rap group in Cali, Columbia, and its engagement in cul-
conception of the body and away from methodological
tural politics. His argument is pitched against those who
emphasis on analysis of discourse or linguistic data-the
would abstract off a reified culture or a detachable repre-
ethnography illuminates how meanings and values are
sentation about race. I explore a rather different object of
attached to urban spaces, how these meanings rebound
analysis, one constituted by a focus on subjectivity. What
on the significance of bodies, and how movement through
follows is an exercise in writing ethnography out of the
the spaces effects changes in the racial signification at-
bounds of particular communities or social groups and
tached to both bodies and spaces. I argue, in short, that
across race and class lines. I set off from the realization
the dynamic signifying interaction occurring in real time
that, in pursuing subjective experience, one is inevitably
between body and space constitutes the specific features
led across the city and through the frontiers separating
of race and, thereby, of class.
such categories as the "shantytown dwellers" or the

"elite." My argument is that racialization follows on such
journeys rather more closely than we, as anthropologists,
Methodology of research and writing
have heretofore been able to describe, not least because
I adopt a particular form of writing ethnography here:
of our need for rooted, localized ethnography of "groups
This article takes the form of a Elctionlike description of
of natives" "poor blacks," "rich whites," "confused
an event and the movements of some participants after
browns" with their associated "native points of view"
they leave it. The characters, who are based on real
(see Gupta and Ferguson 1997).
persons or who are composites created for the purpose
The ethnography of social practice I develop below
of the narrative, move to and through different places in
aims to unravel the symbolic processes informing the day-
the city over the course of one evening. The description is
to-day racialization processes that distinct subjects expe-
ethnographic, that is, although the events are storylike
rience as they move at different tempos across the city.
the actions, thoughts, and words of the subjects, and the
I eschew an abstracted or timeless body, of the sort pos-
settings in which they take place, are taken from material
ited in racial classification systems. Rather, I show bodies
collected during extensive participant-observation in Sal-
as constituted in social interaction, within the field of
vador and research involving both informal discussions
meanings conferred by places.7 So, rather than the body
and formal interviews.
in itself, I consider the ever-changing relationships be-
Writing ethnography as if it were fiction- not as
tween bodies and spaces. Thus, I seek to apprehend the
fiction is useful in this case for several reasons. First,
relationship between what is said about social differences
it is a solution to the methodological dilemma faced by
and what "goes without saying" (Bloch 1992) for the city's
ethnographers of interracial and cross-class urban life,
inhabitants, or the nondiscursive practices that structure
noted above, in which one "native" point of view (usu-
apprehension of social difference. I consider the cognitive
ally that of the oppressed) imposes itself more than an-
baggage that subjects bring to and take from specific social
other. Through the story, I am able to analyze different
interactions the effects of embodied and remembered
subjective standpoints simultaneously, in the different
experiences, understood as the sediments of repeated
settings, situations, and events described, in a fashion
passage through and toward other urban spatial contexts.
that is rarely possible in verbatim descriptions, even
Such experiences and memories, I show, confer both
when enriched by after-the-fact interviews with partici-
structuring weight and dynamism to social encounters.
pants of actual events. I can conjugate all that I as
Where do subjects in such interactions come from and
ethnographer know in both conscious and embodied
where do they proceed? How does their memory of these
fashion (Hastrup 1994) about real subjects, speech, and
transitions, embodied as knowledge that may or may not
settings to present this knowledge in an ordered and
be accessible through words, shape their participation in
meaningful fashion appropriate to the purpose here.
these events? More specifically, I ask, how might this
Moreover, writing the ethnography as a story allows the
knowledge mold the constitution of race during such
reader to follow the journeys of distinct subjects through
102
different urban spaces in the course of an imagined day
because it faces the rising sun, not the sunset, and because
in real time, rather than in the ethnographic present of
the material used in the acabamento (finishing), such as
classic Malinowskian anthropology. For this reason, too, I
the floor tiles and bathroom fittings, is of the finest quality.
have set the story precisely, in the year 1997. Many of the
The apartment is located in a fashionable and sought-after
details in the text refer to fashions of the day and to events
area, Alto das Flores, where just one old mansion bears
that took place that year.
witness to the vicinity's recent rural past.l When it be-
Michael Carrithers, in his critique of Clifford Geertz's
came a gym academy, however, the mansion gained a new
Works and Lives (1988), noted important differences be-
appearance, modernized with a tile facade in brilliant
tween fiction and ethnography, emphasizing that "where-
colors on which its name is written in large letters: ACA-
as the canon of a fictional realist might be to achieve
DEMIA BOA FORMA.
verisimilitude, ethnographers adhere to quite a different
In Alto das Flores many new high-rise buildings are
standard. In their writing the touchstone must be fidelity
ostentatiously alto nivel. They are replete with luxury
to what they experienced and learned about others, and
material, such as granite, and have pretty verandas, stylish
much of what they write has to be verifiably true"
garden patches, and, in the public areas, acres of tiling,
(1988:22). I am in agreement with this statement. It
communal swimming pools, party halls, asphalt sports
clarifies the seriousness of the ethnographic enterprise,
areas, and small, boxlike tiled constructions to shelter
to which this study contributes. As already stated, my
the porters at their desks. They have several stories of
story is based on deep anthropological knowledge. Be-
garages. The apartments themselves are cramped, no
cause writing ethnography as if fiction, however, is an
doubt because of construction costs. But in the eyes of
unusual and potentially problematic strategy (although
the residents, the lack of space is compensated for by the
not without precedents in ethnographic writing), I need
agreeable sensation that those living there belong to a new
to detail research methods and empirical foundations.8
world: modern, hygienic, privileged, stable, secure- in
The ethnography derives from both formal research
short, of a "high level."
and informal participant-observation in Salvador. I have
Outside the buildings, however, the chaos of the old
lived in the city since 1991 (bar a few periods spent in
world still appears. An empty lot has become a rubbish
Britain) working on different research projects, including a
dump, feeding a colony of large, chubby rats. An enormous
study of a low-income settlement and another of social
hole has appeared in the new tarmac of the road and no
networks encompassing middle-class and working-class
one knows when it might be fixed. Sewer water of un-
persons, focusing on race, class, and gender. I can claim
known origin runs ceaselessly into a small stream, its
a special familiarity with the city because of my personal
banks rank with a flourishing growth of tall grass and
circumstances. Married since 1993 to a Soteropolitan, I
weeds. An open area, clearly planned as a public square,
have affines on both sides of the socioeconomic divide.
shows signs of neglect. Uncut grass, paper and other items
My Bahian family is cross-class and has been "interracial,"
of rubbish strewn about, it seems to hold promise for a
too, ever since my daughter was born. I have lived both
better future. The road is narrow, and the guests arriving
in poor neighborhoods and at upscale addresses. In short,
in polished new cars have difficulty parking. Some small,
the description that follows is well grounded. One addi-
dusty boys, posing as car minders, hand signal directions
tional fact is important: It is based on my own participa-
to the newcomers with vigorous gestures and shouts of
tion in more than 30 children's birthday parties over
"Aqui, Tia, vem, vem, vem!" [Here, Auntie, come on, come
the 1990s.
on!] They are residents of a small local "resistance," as

those influenced by the Movimento Negro call such
pockets of low-income settlements, made up of a mixture
All Bahians together?
of tiny, old-fashioned tiled houses, painted in flaking
A family party is beginning in Itaigara, a new bairro nobre
blues, pinks, and greens; precarious shacks; and never-
("noble" district) in Salvador. A young couple is celebrat-
finished brick constructions.ll
ing their son Rogerio's second birthday in the salao de
Inside Rogerio's building, the party is a fine affair. A
festas (party hall) of the Palazzo Veneziano, the recently
row of tables covered in white cloths offers a feast to the
built high-rise building in which they live.9 This building is
eye. On them are many trays laden with salgadinhos-
considered alto nivel (high level) for a number of reasons:
mouth-sized patties, cheese tartlets, chicken rissoles,
Each apartment has three en suite bedrooms, "complete
kibbes, Bolivian meat pies, prawn alla milanesa, and other
dependencies" (a maid's room adjoining a laundry area),
such salty delicacies. There are piles of the pao delicia a
and two spaces in the garage. There are two sets of ele-
soft, pale, bread roll sprinkled with cheese that is indis-
vators: social for the residents and servi,co for servicemen
pensable in any party. On another table is a display of cold
and the maids. In addition, there are only two apartments
cuts: An entire roast turkey, ready sliced on the bone, is
on each floor. Rogerio's apartment is especially valuable
an island in a sea of platters bearing ham, capon, roast
103
pork, salami, and pates, ornamented with elaborate ar-
ance. They are the rebels, family members drawn to
rangements of tropical fruits. But the main table, located
alternative lifestyles, the hippies, the surfers, the artists,
in the large, glass-walled salon at the center of the build-
and others disenchanted with the status quo. They inter-
ing's area social (public area for events), is for the sweets.
mingle freely, at ease like the other guests, drinking, eating,
At its center is the cake, or rather, the cake box, an elabo-
chatting, and laughing, enjoying the opportunity to see so
rate construction imitating Mount Olympia, the home of
many family members gathered together.
the gods as depicted in Disney's recent film Hercules
All of the generations are present. Elderly women sit
(1997). The cake itself, sliced in rectangular pieces, each
at the tables, waiting for kin and friends to greet them.
individually wrapped, is hidden within, ready for distri-
New faces appear regularly, exuding bonhomie. "All OK,
bution after the singing of "Happy Birthday" at the end of
Auntie? How good to see yout" Warm hugs, swift kisses on
the party. On the wall above, a brightly colored panel
each cheek, and the new face drifts off or sits down at
depicts the Disney-animated Hercules as a baby and
the table for a few minutes. Gendered groups form in a
various characters and scenes from the film, as do a num-
spontaneous fashion, but the homogeneity is regularly
ber of polystyrene models placed on the table, amid the
interrupted when a woman goes to talk to her partner or
display of hundreds of handmade doces (sweets) in conve-
a relative, or when a man takes a seat briefly with the
nient mouth-sized shapes and individually wrapped boiled
women. Mixed groups occupy some tables, at which there
sweets. These include the children's favorite, brigadeiros
is less coming and going. Couples sit together, sometimes
(small balls of chocolate fondant made with condensed
holding hands or touching each other.
milk) and also more sophisticated concoctions prunes,
The children run and shout ceaselessly, dodging be-
grapes, strawberries, coconut, and other such ingredients
tween the adults' legs and playing on the toys specially
enveloped in milk toffees, fudges, or sugar shells. Occa-
rented for the occasion. These are of U.S. manufacture: a
sionally, children swoop past to pocket a sweet or gulp
plastic castle, a fully equipped Wendy House, a large air-
down a brigadeiro. For now, they obey an unspoken rule:
inflated trampoline. The youngest children are shadowed
No one touches the main displays of food until invited.

Balloons decorate the main salon and the external
closely by their babas. Some babas are dressed fashionably, in new clothes, generally body-hugging gear of the
area, which is full of rented plastic tables, each draped
sort bought in the Baixa de Sapateiros, a working-class
with a pink tablecloth, surrounded by four plastic chairs
shopping area. They wear cheap but modish new shoes,
(similarly clad in pink) and decorated with a floral display
paid for in several installments out of their limited sala-
and a plate of salgadinhos. Later, a waiter will distribute
ries. Others, recently eontracted, do not yet possess party
plates of doces. In another, smaller, salon a sound system
clothes of their own choice and wear hand-me-downs
plays Xuxa's latest record of children's music.l2 A small
given them by their patroas (female employers), the
group of children play at dancing. Behind a tiled bar at the
mothers of their charges. A little dark-skinned girl, in
end of the external area, under the supervision of Rogerio's
a white frilly dress ornamented with pink bows, her 'shard"
young mother, servants put the finishing touches to trays
hair tied in many small plats, plays with the smooth-
laden with the first round of drinks: ice-cold beer; Guarana
haired children. She is Rogerio's mother's goddaughter,
(the Brazilian soft drink) and Coca-Cola, and, because this
the child of a maid of long-standing service in the family
is a chic event, white wine (a national liebfraumilch) and
who "fell pregnant" and refused to name the father. She
Johnny Walker Red Label, served neat over ice. The maids
is being brought up alongside Rogerio and his cousins.
are all negras or morenas escuras (dark tans), except for
Her mother also takes part in the festivities, almost as
Rogerio's baba (nanny), whose pale skin, smooth and
an honorary member of the family.
mousy brown hair, and country accent bear witness
The bigger girls, of age about seven or eight, are
to her origin in the sertao, the interior of Bahia state.
already in the salon, where the sound system is set up.
Rogerio's mother, elegant and sexy in a new, dark-toned
They change the Xuxa CD, which they consider infantile,
silk dress, high heels, and gold jewelry, smoothes her long,
for one by E o Tchan, a Bahian pagode samba group.l3 The
blond hair, and sends out the laden trays. The waiters,
girls dance the sexually suggestive movements of pagode
overheated in their white jackets, dark faces slightly moist
admirably. The music and the dance style, once associated
with sweat, circulate among the crowds of expensively
with low-income black Soteropolitans, were fashionable
perfumed adults, offering the drinks. Most of the women
in middle-class circles by 1997, in large part because of
are dressed in chic clothes, which cling to their mostly
the national success of E o Tchan, in particular its blond
well-toned bodies (shaped by diet, programmed exercise,
star dancer, Carla Peres, featured regularly on TV Globo.
or liposuction). The men are elegant in well-pressed in-
Peres's popularity symbolized as it enacted the whitening
formal social wear, of the category "esporte." They wear
of Bahian pagode.l4
leather moccasins with white socks. A few, mainly youn-
But the girls at the party are unaware of this. As the
ger, people stand out because of their less-formal appear-
girls dance, the babas, most of whom are expert pagodeiras
114
themselves (and spend hours dancing and singing pagode
embrace her and exclaims with pleasure, "Dona Alice, how
with their charges), glance occasionally at them, concen-
good that you have come!" adding, in a joking tone, "Did
trating on following the little ones. Their tense postures
you bring me my coconut and pineapple jam?" "Of course,
suggest that they feel out of place.l5 They speak little,
my son!" she replies, "How could your aunt forget?" She
limiting themselves to the task of controlling or pacifying
feels at home in this milieu, as long as she does not spend
the toddlers. Sometimes a guest addresses one by name,
too much time.l8 At a certain point, she begins to miss the
asking, "Tudo bem?" [X1 well?], but mostly they are ig-
quiet and normality of her little one-roomed house in an
nored. They do not participate in the frequent exchanges
alleyway in Plataforma (a low-income area of town). Her
of kisses and hugs. Meanwhile, Rogerio, in his Hercules
sister, by contrast, who has also been invited to Rogerio's
outfit, rushes from one parent to another and back again to party, feels less at ease among the brancos. She prefers to
sit behind the bar with the maids who are serving drinks
the toys.
Some members of Rogerio's family also bear traces of
and preparing the trays for the waiters.l9
African or indigenous American ancestry. One aunt could
Dona Alice's son sits among his old friends, com-
be classified as mulata of the sarara variety (pale skin,
pletely at home, his dark color unimportant, a mere fact
freckles, reddish, very curly African hair, although she
about his appearance, only worthy of commentary at
wears it escovado, i.e., brushed straight using a blow-
moments of joking. His cell phone rings, and he covers
dryer). His grandfather seems to have a mixed racial
an ear to be able to hear the caller. It is his wife, telling
background, too. He is a typical coronel do sertao a
him that she is arriving. She parks her brand new Fiat Tipo
"colonel," or rancher-landowner, from the backlands.
(a chic car in 1997) and climbs the stairs to the entrance-
He has thick, curly, white hair and moustache, an upright
way. The porter, himself black, immediately recognizes
posture, and a well-tanned complexion, at present slightly
her as a guest. She is a negra, cor deformiga (ant-colored),
reddened with the whisky and bonhomie. And the hus-
extremely elegant in high-heeled pumps and a white linen
band of one of Rogerio's mother's cousins, with his light-
suit, of the sort bought in an upscale shopping center or in
colored skin, is clearly a mulato of the "Branco da Bahia"
Sao Paulo. Her long, smooth, brown hair conjures up an
(Bahian White) type. All three of the couple's children
expensive beauty salon. She vanishes among her friends
inherited his "bad hair," although no one in the family
and former faculty colleagues, telling stories of her day's
comments on the fact, beyond occasionally suggesting
work as a judge in Salvador's Forum.
ways that the hair might be treated to improve it. The
At the party, hosts and guests are all Bahian together.
cousin's husband is an excellent member of the family,
They meet in a harmonious and convivial atmosphere,
a successful professional, serious and a high earner-a
seeming to demonstrate not only the absence of racial
good pai defamilia (father of family; family man). Another
prejudice that Brazilians (and especially Bahians) some-
young uncle (blond like his sister, Rogerio's mother)
times claim as their distinctive feature (Wade 1997;
arrives with a new girlfriend, whom he met at law school.
Winant 1992) but also a lack of friction between mem-
She is morena cor-de-canela (cinnamon-colored tan), or (if
bers of distinct economic classes and between genders.
less precision is required) she could be described as
All share the same language, communicating not just with
morena clara (light tan). Slightly African features and
words and silences but also with gestures, postures,
curly hair make it difficult for her to attribute her skin
and body movements, in the flow of changing bodily
color to an indigenous American great-grandmother, as
juxtapositions and separations between the guests and
people with her coloring sometimes do. If a recent such
the family. Talking about Bahian identity, such people
relationship in the family is anything to go by, this one
may contrast themselves with other Brazilians such as
will not reach the stage of marriage. In the earlier case,
the Paulistas, people from the more European and (so it
the couple moved in together but suffered barely con-
is sometimes said) the more racist city of Sao Paulo. But
cealed hostility from key members of the family and
if they all feel a temporary unitary identity in some
separated after an unhappy few years.l6
sense if they are all Bahians together then they are so
But the new girlfriend, like other black guests, is made
in a time and space in which the hegemonic aesthetic
quite welcome. The hosts make a special fuss of "Aunt"
elevates whiteness and all that is associated with it to
Alice, for example, who is a blue-black negra and might be
higher social value. E^ren black guests incorporate some
described as morena escura (dark tan). She is the mother of
degree of white identity here, if only by inhabiting it
Rogerio's father's compadre, his business partner of many
momentarily, in a metonymic sense. And the servants'
years' standing.l7 Dona Alice is a skilled cook and, al-
muted presence reinforces the sense that to belong is
though she is a domestic servant, in this environment she
to be white. But the party is, after all, just a transitory
is considered a friend. On arrival she sits at a table with
everyday moment. When it is all over, when all have
other women of her generation, alongside Rogerio's grand-
finished singing and clapping "tIappy Birthday" for the
mother. The latter's husband, standing nearby, goes to
by now exhausted Rogerio, each guest or servant will
1|5
head off to another place, one that is distinct not only
Portuguese-built district of Pelourinho. The Lower City is
in the geographic ordering of the city but also on the
the long, narrow strip of flat land beneath it, stretching
social map.
from the port area and commercial district to the residential area of Bonfim. The area of inclusion expanded as the
city grew. In the late l9th and early 20th centuries, new
Social maps of Salvador
avenues, replete with imposing mansions, were built fur-
Land settlement in Salvador reflects and reinforces its
ther along the escarpment, in Vitoria and Grac,a, districts
extreme social and economic divisions. Dramatic popula-
that were also included under the rubric "Upper City."
tion growth after 1940 resulted in expansion to the north,
Subsequently, most of the mansions were demolished as
far beyond the old divided city of the 1930s, with its ridges
luxurious skyscrapers took their place. With this high-
occupied by the wealthy and its valleys by slums (see
rise architecture (Figure 1), the middle and upper classes
Landes 1947; Pierson 1942). In general, the upper and
formed the modernist skylines of many new districts fur-
middle classes are progressively occupying the Atlantic
ther afield, such as Pituba along the Atlantic seafront.
coast and the eastern region of the city, whereas the
Recently there has been a spurt of interest in the construc-
povao (the masses) are expanding into the Cidade Baixa
tion of a "fortress city," as developers offer lots in as yet
(Lower City) along the Bay of All Saints to the west.20 The
unbuilt protected and serviced condominiums.2l Most
Cidade Alta (Upper City) is the area high above the sea
middle-class people no longer live along the escarpment,
on the escarpment. The term originally designated the
then. But the notion of upper and lower cities still has
Figure 1. The Upper City: High-rises along the Corredor de Vitoria with the port and the Lower City in the distance. Photograph by Edmilson Costa Teixeira.
106
dense symbolic relevance, for it captures the social and

spatial division that cuts across the modern city.
In contrast, the internal differentiations on the other
side of the divide are often only dimly grasped. This can be
Some Soteropolitans, such as the architect and urban
attributed to the lack of mutual representation of the
planner Angela Gordilha Souza, are acutely concerned
accumulated understandings afforded by day-to-day expe-
with this division.22 Souza documents the development
riences. Thus, residents of the bairros nobres have a far
of the "socio-spatial segregation of poverty" in the city's
subtler understanding of the gradations in value attributed
configuration, showing that in the latter half of the 20th
to distinct spaces and dwellings within these prestigious
century, during the formation of the modern metropolis,
zones than do poorer people. Many middle-class people
this process has intensified. Rich and poor are increasingly
suffered the consequences of stagnation in the property
separated in two "differentiated and juxtaposed cities"
market during the 1990s as they struggled to make good
(Souza 2000:167). This separation, one might add, has
and move to better, higher-status homes. Knowledge of
helped to fw the syrnbolic contrast between upper and
value gradations is class specific, so that poorer people
lower cities in residents' embodied understanding of
only have a vague notion of the distinctions made by
the city.
upper- and middle-class people and vice versa.24 In gen-
City dwellers acquire a cognitive social map of their
eral, the longest-settled working-class districts, closest to
environment, knowledge sedimented over years of resi-
the center of town, are highly valued for their comparative
dence and constant movement through and across it.
safety and functioning urban infrastructure paved roads,
Experiences of the urban landscape vary dramatically.
street lights, water, sewerage, and electricity. People also
One can circulate in the central swathe of Salvador on its
value those familiar areas populated with kin, affines and
fast-moving highways by air-conditioned car without com-
ritual kin. Hence, low-income neighborhoods may be
ing into direct contact with the poor areas of town. One
semiendogamous (McCallum 1997).25
passes by kilometers of densely settled poor districts, their
Residents' cognitive maps populate the streets and
unfinished red-brick dwellings endlessly growing upward
dwellings with distinct kinds of people. Color is a crucial
as floor is added onto concrete floor, their untidy jumble
component of this mapping. For example, working-class
faintly resembling some Mediterranean hill town. Yet one
informants may refer to the residents of Grac,a or Pituba
never need drive through their narrow streets. These
interchangeably as os brancos or os ricos (the rich). The
images, streaming past on the other side of the car win-
latter may talk either of o povao (the plebs) or os pretos (the
dow, may be the closest physical contact children like
blacks).26 But sight more than talk is important here or,
Rogerio have ever had with the "other" city, the contours
rather, the accumulated memories of sight. Euro-Brazilian
of which they may draw most clearly from stories told by
whiteness is visually hegemonic in the districts of the
maids and porters.23 Many of the latter's neighbors, by
city where the better off live and work. Blackness and
contrast, spend their entire lives in a low-income neigh-
brownness are patently normal, unmarked, elsewhere, a
borhood, rarely venturing beyond the ambit of a few
visual effect of the multiplication of bodies seen in pub-
streets and alleyways, often too poor to buy a bus ticket.
lic spaces. Crowds are colored distinctly and, thus, the
Such was the case of Dona Bianca, a grandmother and
spaces that they inhabit acquire their own hues. So the
retired school cook. At the age of 60 she took a bus ride
social maps of the city that residents embody come to
to the city airport for the first time, at the invitation of
be color coded.
a sociologist who had been conducting research in her

neighborhood. When she saw the planes, Dona Bianca
burst into tears, overcome, she said, by happiness at finally seeing with her own eyes what she had only seen
The body in space

Yet these maps will not hold still, for the symbolic pro-
cess is refractory. The meanings that attach to spaces
on television.
Despite such radical diversity in experiences of the
feed back on the inhabitants as they move through
city, residents have important conceptual overlaps about
these spaces. Thus, when bodies of all sorts move through
relations between the areas. The contrast between presti-
a space that situates them in relationship to a hege-
gious bairros nobres and the vast expanses of bairros
monic Euro-Brazilian whiteness, they are engulfed in
populares (working-class neighborhoods) is clearly de-
some sense by the signifying force of that space. The
limited in the general social map that most share. In talk,
form of encompassment depends on the messages con-
this contrast is often expressed with clarity, although the
veyed by body presentation and the language of their
terms of description vary depending on the standpoint of
bodily accoutrements. For example, a person may be
the speaker (McCallum 1996). The meanings that individ-
whitened and placed higher up along the social scale, as
uals ascribe to the contrast also vary, but, whether rich or
is the case for the black guests (but also the lighter
poor, and however they express it and experience it, all
and whiter guests) at Rogerio's partr, or may come to
residents share knowledge of the divided city.
stand as outside the social scale, as Other, like the
107
servants at the party and the boys who would take care
of the guests' cars.27
For Dona Alice, then, the bus journey home is not

simply a trip from whiteness to blackness. Certainly this
The power of the visual presence of bodies to alter the
aspect is self-evident, and the presence of the students on
meaning of spaces is constant. Bus stops and the interiors
their way to the gig serve to remind her of the color-coded
of buses are a case in point. As buses speed through the
starting point of her journey, as does the point where
city, the symbolizing process takes a fluctuating or cyclical
they jump off the bus (just before it takes the dip down
form. Although bus riding "darkens" passengers, bus stops
the Contorno into the Lower City). But many more sto-
and buses in the central areas of the city are associated
ries than that about race and class are told to her by
with whiteness at certain times of the day. Many high
the other passengers and passersby as the bus hurtles
school and university students, ofElce workers, and middle-
through the night. For example, generational differences,
class matrons ride the buses for relatively short distances.
told by the scanty garb of the noisy youth; social de-
But in the early mornings or at 6:00 p.m., bus stops are
generation ("The young have no respect for their elders
filled with poorer and distinctly darker people going to or
any more," Dona Alice might say); and the rise of crimi-
from work. At the end of the line, most passengers are
nalit,v ("There are vagabundos everywhere now").30 As she
darker skinned, and they alight in bairros where normality
returns to her own neighborhood, the important tale that
is brown or black in color. Thus, the presence of bodies of
the sights around her tell is that she is within a space of
one type or other within the bus or within a city district
familiarity. Each door and entrance to an alleyway evokes
seems to sustain, by a metonymic process, a racial sym-
named persons, some of whom are kin or ritual kin, many
bolism that is already carried by the values attributed to
of whom she has known for a ver,v long time. That the
spaces themselves.28
familiar faces and voices she encounters as she arrives at
I return now to the subject's engagement with this
her own doorstep are in the main black or brown might
effervescent symbolism. The relationship between race
only come to her as an afterthought, an effect, perhaps,
and class is lived intensely as subjects move through the
of her evening spent in Alto das Flores. Thus does racial-
city. Dona Alice, for example, takes a bus after the party,
ization wane or, rather, the simple form of racialization
telling her son and daughter-in-law that they need not
that occurs in everyday time and space and impresses
worry about giving her a lift. "Stay here with your friends,
itself on a subject's consciousness. But, of course, the
your mum knows how to look after herself!" she says. Well
buildup of impressions over time is fundamental to racial-
kissed, having taken her leave of the other guests, carrying
izing processes as a whole.
her bag with a large piece of cake (larger than most, a sign
If asked directly, Dona Alice probably would not say
that she is well liked by Rogerio's mother and family), she
that her bairro is black. She might claim that real racial
waits patiently at the bus stop with two white students
democracy is only found in the bairros populares, where a
who are going to an Asa de Aguia gig at the Clube Espanhol
mixture of colors and phenotypes live together and inter-
and a black porter who is going home to Uruguai at the
marry, in contrast to the elitist exclusivity evident among
end of his shift.29 During the half-hour journey, she feels
residents of the bairros nobres (McCallum 1996). In mak-
relieved to return to the neighborhood where she lives
ing such statements, she will be appealing creatively to the
(and where she was born). A group of unruly young people
discourses available to her. But the foundations of her
are drumming on the sides of the hard seats, singing and
positioning with regard to them will be the depth of her
cracking jokes in loud voices, but she pays them no heed,
own accumulated experience, to which she makes refer-
nor they her, although she clasps her bag more tightly out
ence as she thinks and speaks.
of instinct and checks that her cash is hidden in her

waistband. The lads are dressed in long Bermuda shorts
barely held up at the hips, the girls in tight-fitting tank tops

and minuscule shorts cut high at the buttocks. As she
The wavering embodiment of racial identity

From the perspective of the subject, racial and other
climbs down off the bus, Dona Alice looks carefully around
meanings stick to bodies as they populate the urban
before walking on, away from the relative safety of the
landscape, as they move through it, and racial meanings
corner bar by the bus stop. She looks for the vagabazndos
conferred by bodies also attach to the landscape. Bodies
(ruffians, good-for-nothings) who hang out on the street
do not simply stand for themselves, for the meanings of a
opposite. She is almost home, but things are not as they
particular location help define the meanings attached to
were when she was young. At that time, everyone knew
a body. This semiotic interaction is apparent to Sotero-
everyone, the young people respected their elders, and
politans, too, who may comment on it. Early on in my re-
men respected women. A group of men sitting at the bar
search, a Bahian friend, a white university lecturer (he
joke with her: "Come over here, Auntie, and have a drink
is what might be described as swarthy, of southern Medi-
with us!" She laughs and says, "Another day." She is
terranean appearance) helped me to understand this. I
among neighbors and friends.
asked him, "Is there an identifiable black middle class in
1|1
Salvador?" At once, he said no. Then he added that, to him,
20th century. The development of social spaces associated
middle-class people are branco, even if individuals may be
with blackness were crucial to this process.
described as negro, preto, or moreno (brown, tan, or
Michel Agier, a leading student of l990s Salvador,
brunette). For example, he said, he never thought of a
shows how delimited social spaces are important to the
black colleague as negro. The negros live in poor areas of
construction of distinct social identities.32 His studies of Ile
town. His colleague, he felt, was "like me." This unmarked
Aiye, the Afro-Brazilian bloco (carnival association) based
category denominating "us" refers, of course, to white-
in the district of Liberdade, an old, relatively central low-
ness, if only by the logic of opposition, although it may also
income area, include a detailed examination of the work
stand opposed to morenidade, in the sense evocative of
done by its members in constructing and successfully
that emblematic suntanned Brazilian identity.3l
disseminating a positively valued black identity. Such
These comments are not part of any identifiable
blocos provide a space, available for most of the year, in
discourse, although the failure to name a black middle
which Soteropolitans and tourists can participate in mu-
class could conceivably be held to express a racism by
sical and other cultural events. "Ile," as it is affectionately
omission or the effects of a ubiquitous silence about ra-
known, has been an important force in the negritude
cial inequality in Brazil (Sheriff 2001). But my friend, no
movement and, indeed, it is iconic of these associations'
fool and something of a radical, might name such a group
success in refiguring attitudes to blackness. In events such
in another context. In this instance, he was merely
as an annual black beauty festival, they promote pride in
being honest to me about his own day-to-day subjectivity.
African heritage and awareness of black Brazilian history,
His reply was an expression of a normally unstated knowl-
especially resistance to slavery. The discourse elaborated
edge that conditions and impinges on the elaboration
in the public speech of the leaders of the blocos and in the
of many kinds of discourse. For example, if he were to
lyrics of songs inverts a once openly expressed devalua-
agree in a political meeting that the black middle class
tion of black culture and people in Salvador (Agier 2000).
should be consolidated and strengthened (as he might), he
Ile's effect on the city has been multifaceted, both help-
would be running counter, consciously and deliberately, to
ing reshape political rhetoric about culture and establish-
his own intuitions. I think my friend was expressing a
ing paths of self-discovery along which individuals may
sense shared by those who live and work in the more
travel (Figure 2).
affluent areas of Salvador. But this sense forms part of
Ile and other such blocos appeal directly to Afro-
knowledge shared by all longer-term dwellers in the city,
Brazilian subjectivities but also to nonblacks. Their success
whatever their class affiliation, although it is uncomfort-
in attracting members, however, is varied. Most of Ile's
able to put into words.
members are from Liberdade and are working class; a
My friend's black colleague, by contrast, was unequiv-
majority are female. Middle-class blacks figure among its
ocal in claiming for himself an identity as a negro and as a
directors. Some intellectuals and professionals, like Dona
member of a black middle class. In claiming for himself an
Alice's daughter-in-law, are also attracted by Ile. I return to
identity drawn from the discourse elaborated within the
Dona Alice's son and daughter-in-law, at the point when
Movimento Negro, which challenges and denounces any
the party ends.
claims to the absence of blackness in Brazil, he did not

reject whiteness in his day-to-day life or feel the need to
engage in problack militancy. Like Rogerio's godfather
(Dona Alice's son), he spent much time in symbolically
white spaces or with white people, in the natural course of
middle-class social living. Moreover, he felt perfectly at
ease in these circles. When he was among such friends
and colleagues, his sense of self was not perturbed by
his identification with blackness. He did not feel out of
place or Othered, whether by the subjects with whom he
interacted or by any inward-looking feeling of bodily
difference from those around him. One might say that
his identity as negro is just one of several that he might
claim for himself (among them, a Christian activist, a
Bahian, a successful academic, a father, etc.). I cannot say
what personal experiences lay behind his self-knowledge
as black. But the ease with which he lay claim to a negro
identity speaks of important historical changes in the
Figure 2. Afro-Bahian style: A couple at Ile Aiye's Night of Beleza
public discourses on race circulating in Bahia in the late
Negra. Photograph by the author.
lo9
As the couple leave Alto das Flores, they begin a
So Dona Alice's daughter-in-law may make her own
sociogeographic transition that differs from Dona Alice's.
sense of black identity uppermost. Her French guests
From the Alto they drive home to their two-bedroom flat in
luxuriate, perhaps, in a temporary connection with the
the older but still sought-after bairro of Grac,a to change
wonderfully exotic and sensual (and thereby know them-
their clothes. They are going out with two French friends
selves as antiracists). And Dona Alice's son is content to let
they met on a trip through Europe, whom they had
his body take over, as he sambas to rhythms that he has
promised to take to the ensaio (rehearsal) o$ Ile Aiye at
known since he first came to consciousness.35
Fort Santo Antonio. They explained, "It's a povao thing. It
In spaces such as Alto das Flores, by contrast, guests
won't do to go dressed chic or as a barao.33 It's better to
and employees are willy-nilly put into contact withzan
wear simple clothes." They have already warned their
aesthetic system in which Euro-Brazilian whiteness is
friends (who insist on going about the town on ordinary
hypervaluated. That this takes place in an upper-middle-
buses) to keep their jewels and watches in the hotel, not to
class setting is no coincidence. Spend a night at home in
carry large bags, and to wear T-shirts, shorts, and sneakers,
Brazil watching the television and one is left in no doubt as
to avoid calling attention to themselves in the street. For
to the hegemonic aesthetics of color. Whiteness, in the
each space in the city, they explained, there is an appro-
form of fashionably clad blond or smooth-haired, sun-
priate dress code, a body language (one that gringos usu-
tanned young men and women, stands for the normal
ally ignore). On this occasion, though, Dona Alice's son
(normal), the modern, and the socially valued. Flick
and daughter-in-law choose different styles of clothes.
through studies of the media or of the "image of the
He prefers to wear smartly pressed jeans and a T-shirt.
negro" in Brazil and this impression confirms itself (see,
He puts his wallet in the back pocket and leaves his
e.g., Fonseca 2000 and Sodre 1999). On occasions such as
wristwatch on he will be among "his people," just like
Rogerio's party, the dominant aesthetic seems to parallel
those among whom he grew up. She takes from the
or imitate representations of race in the media. Thus does
wardrobe a dress in Afro-Bahian style, with a geometric
the visual and sensory production of meanings in the flow
design in strong colors. She loves these moments, and
of day-to-day life ensure that the normative and valued
she can feel at ease, beautiful in her African disguise,
nature of whiteness takes a thoroughly embodied form.
together with people who resemble her. She feels nos-
The space where the party takes place upscale Alto das
talgic for the time in her youth when she used to go with
Flores encloses Rogerio's family's new, modern apart-
her mother to the candomble festas (parties; her mother
ment building. Access to the building's salao de festas
was an initiate).34 She cannot afford to go these days
itself may be read as a mark of white privilege; and, of
because her husband does not care for such things and
course, the guests and family who come to the party
because she has so many social engagements. The
exemplify or aspire to ideals of beauty that emphasize
two childhood friends from her home neighborhood who
blondness, smooth hair, and European or North American
also managed to get to university do not care to associate
styles and accoutrements.
put this in reprotai
themselves with the black cultural movement. They
In Ile's ensaios, a black identity is created and given
prefer new, modern social spaces dominated by the aes-
value in opposition to the hypervaluation bestowed on the
thetics of whiteness. She has explained to her French
Euro-Brazilian body elsewhere in the city or in the media.
friends that this preference is not rooted in ideological
The conscious, discursive construction of blackness is a
motives and that her chil&ood friends are not prejudiced
vital component to Ile's activities, whereas the construc-
against dark-colored people like themselves but, rather,
tion of whiteness is implicit and unspoken in events like
they feel a greater affinity with persons who work, like
Rogerio's party and refers only indirectly to its public
themselves, in the liberal professions. She herself always
hypervaluation. Whiteness is a semiotic subtext, an effect
feels a surge of excitement when she hears the powerful
of what is done, not what is said. A similar effect operates
rhythms and melodic songs of Ile.
Most of the people present at Ile Aiye's ensaios are
at the ensaios. Much of the force of Ile Aiye's message

is generated in the stunning imagery of performers and
black and low income in origin. On such occasions, the
participants and in their rhythm and lyricism. The ex-
aesthetics constructed by the black cultural movement
periences of subjects in both contexts is total, a sensory
prevail. White or light mulatto people are welcome, but
immersion in a profusion of racializing symbols. So one
they do not set the tone. Black faces and bodies, dressed
should hardly be surprised that messages about difference
in a variety of fashions, are resplendently prevalent.
are absorbed as embodied knowledge that holds as natural
Everywhere Afro-Bahian styles are present. Blackness is
the class-color configuration experienced in the city. In
hegemonic in a total sense, not just as an effect of a
this sense is class naturalized.
consciously articulated discourse but also through sheer
The constitution of racial and class identity cannot be
copresence. Each person must then put her or his self
treated as epistemologically distinct from the processes
into a relationship with the identities that are offered.
operating particular subjectivities (Mama 1995). If one
llo
looks at these processes in more detail, one sees that
As I have described, the meanings that stick treach-
several simultaneous operations are at work. Subjects do
erously to space change the meanings generated by
not simply choose between available identities on their
bodies, and, thus, the subject's apprehension of self is also
personal journeys through the semiotic overproduction of
affected as he or she moves through the city. Martin
the world around them. Each bus passenger, party goer, or
Sokefeld (1999) argues that this sense of self is a steady-
participant in Ile's ensaios searches for his or her self's
ing force in such transitions.37 Racializing meanings arise
place in the newly entered semantic space but brings to
in constantly changing configurations as subjects move
this self-placing the weight of past experience. The knowl-
through time and space. Thus, from the perspective of
edge embodied over a lifetime is a key factor and much is
intersubjectivity, progress from difference to Difference
already established beforehand, although the process is
is not simply one way. It also involves fluctuation and
also infinitely recursive. A two-way interchange takes place
(in many individual cases) a welcome lack of fixity. Stuart
with the world, in which agentive appropriation of mean-
Hall has made a similar point in his work on racial
ing for the self is always generated against meanings
identity (Morley and Chen 1996). The relations that
thrown back by others. Myriad cues and impositions
make identity and alterity in other words, that consti-
are encountered on the way, thrown up endlessly in
tute subjectivity are frequently unstable (Gupta and
intersubjective activity (especially intense during such
Ferguson 1997). One could describe a subject's relation
special events as the party or the ensaio). These may
with a particular identity as the temporary assumption
include direct racialization, that is, the imposition of
of a subject position within one of the competing dis-
a racial identity imbued with meanings and values (per-
courses on race circulating in the city. But this is not
haps unwanted) by one subject on another.
enough. As I have shown, some racializing meanings are
The cue for this form of racialization is usually the
simply not expressed in discourse. One also needs to
other's bodily appearance, although I point to a need for
describe how such work of identification takes place in
caution here. Dominguez refers to body differences as the
social interaction. This is because identities emerge
starting point for racialization. Speaking of a more inclu-
strongly or wane in real time, that is, in temporally
sive level than the simple intersubjective one I describe,
delimited spaces of intersubjectivity, or sociality.
she says that racialization takes place "when differences
Subjective transitions may involve the conscious
between human beings are simplified and transformed
transformation in outwardly projected identity when a
into Difference" and, she continues, through "overvaluing
person passes from one symbolizing Eleld to another, for
particular bodily differences by imbuing them with lasting
example, in the manipulation of clothing (Tarlo 1996) or
meaning" (Dominguez 1994:334). In Salvador, too, racial
in the consumption of food (Sokefeld 1999). Subjects like
alterity may arise out of certain readings of the body. But
Dona Alice's daughter-in-law can at some moments
what body is this?
identify themselves openly with the Afro-Bahian black
In general, in Salvador the body is not seen as a
identity offered by Ile. At other moments such identifi-
finished or closed entity. It is always in production, main-
cation is merely latent, as, for example, when an alter-
tenance, and transformation, changing its form and
native class-based identity, linked metonymically to
meaning, whether through spiritual or magical techno-
whiteness, comes to the forefront. Dona Alice's daughter-
logical intervention, through diet and exercise, or by medi-
in-law changes her clothes appropriately for each occa-
cal means. From a religious perspective, for example,
sion. Her self-knowledge flows effortlessly from one space
spirits may descend on a body and make use of it to
to another as long as she is able, bodily and otherwise, to
communicate with living beings, a point that may be made
dominate the hegemonic languages of the different
in relation to Afro-Brazilian religions, Pentecostalism, or
domains. She can sit in judgment at court, dance with
spiritism.36 The body must be kept "closed" against ill-
sazingue (swing) like any negona do Ile (black woman of
nesses or the evil eye by charms and prayers. Although
Ile), and make conversation and appropriate bodily ges-
proponents of biomedicine often clash with religious
tures with her friends, compadres, and colleagues at the
specialists who preach an unstable integration of spirit
party in Itaigara, like any other upper-middle-class person.
and flesh, they also take an active part in constructing a
It is this capability that underlies her ability to transfer
view of the body as mutable, through plastic surgery and
between spaces of intersubjectivity and to sequentially
other forms of intervention, such as hormone replace-
bring to the forefront one social identity after another.
ment therapy. The aesthetics industry dedicates itself to
Whereas a black judge enjoys considerable leeway to
corporeal transformation of skin and hair and figure,
shift assumed identities or to move between fields of
whether in beauty salons, gyms, or special clinics. So the
identification in this way, a person such as Dona Alice at
body is involved in a constant process of ensuring closure
first sight has more restricted possibilities open to her. I
and effecting or delaying change. Biology, although pres-
do not mean by this to imply that the judge would be
ent as a discourse, need not signify destiny.
immune to experiencing the imposition of unwanted
lll
identities. Most black people I have interviewed in Salva-
of shared knowledge achieved through past engagements
dor, including powerful figures such as judges, politicians,
with other people and places, to such encounters. This
and hospital administrators, are able to recall one episode
bears direct relevance to the naturalization of class, to
or situation in which they were subject to racism. Yet class
which I now return.
position must limit the exploratory possibilities for subjects such as Dona Alice to those spaces that are financially
and socially available. Many of these are black spaces, such
Conclusion
as the candomble centers that her daughter-in-law fre-
At first sight, an incident involving the person on whom
quented as a teenager. Others allow the construction of a
the Dona Alice character is based seems illustrative of the
nonracialized self-identity, for example, Pentecostalist
apparently naturalized state of class as racial difference
churches (Burdick 1998).38 As one might expect from the
in Salvador. Walking along a sidewalk in a residential area
literature on racial identity in Brazil, Soteropolitans do not
of the Upper C;ty, she stopped at the gates of the Baiano
respond to experiences of racialization in any simple way.
de Tenis (an upscale sports and social club) to allow a car
Growing numbers affirm a positively valued identity as
to exit across the pavement. The driver, a branca, think-
negro, rather than the disparaged preto of old (Sansone
ing the road to be clear of traffic, advanced into it and
1993), but many Afro-Brazilians prefer to term themselves
"Dona Alice" walked behind the car, continuing on her
moreno. So, too, do many Euro-Brazilians, to whom the
way. At this point, the driver spotted a bus hurtling down
term connotes an attractive Brazilian identity, which
the road and hastily backed up, without bothering to
branco does not.39 Although they are less mobile, often
check if anyone was behind her, missing "Dona Alice" by
conElned to the Lower City, poorer people in Salvador do
a hair's breadth. Later, "Dona Alice" told me this story
find ways to manipulate, counteract, or disrupt unwanted
with great indignation. I asked her, "Did she apologize?"
forms of racialization.
and she retorted, "Since when does a branca apologize to
Attention to the processes operating particular sub-
a preta?"
jectivities need not deflect one from the way that the
Other aspects of the naturalization of class are also
racialization of the subject is embedded in the structures
contained in this incident not least, the powerful sym-
of power. Judith Butler writes:
bolism of car ownership. White people walking along

the pavements of Salvador are also likely to be run over
To conceive of racism primarily as a problem of

psychic projection requires that dyadic structure by
which a dominant subject projects and a subordi-
by their peers. The incident brings to mind, moreover,

Sheriff's view that the bottom-line discourse governing
class relations in Brazil turns on a black-white opposition
nated Other is projected upon. But the complex dis-
"Dona Alice's" retort cold be read as bringing thi-s deep,
tribution of institutional processes of racialization and
hidden sense of the color coding of social difference to
racism are not simply matters of psychic projection;
the surface of speech. But I have tried to build beyond
the racialization of the subject requires an account of
this formulation of class as ultimately constituted in
subject formation through the terms of race (Omi and
language by looking at the embodied microhistory of
Winant 1986), but this account could not take place

within the terms of an analysis in which a subject
status were taken for granted as a "ground" or a
"presupposition." [1995:443]
creating meaning that each person brings to such fleeting relationships. The argument is not a rebuttal of discourse analysis or the investigation of classification
systems. Indeed, the ethnography developed here is only
possible because of this work. But by altering the angle
Indeed, I have argued that the process of conferring
of ethnographic vision to highlight the movement of
racial meanings is informed by psychic projection because
subjects through lived time and space, I am able to suggest
it is in the first instance an intersubjective one, occurring
a rephrasing of the analysis, away from terms that evoke
within the making of sociality (Toren 1996). Following
the debate about whether Brazil is or is not "different."
Christina Toren, whose theoretical approach is informed
From this perspective, language, in the form of concepts
by a social anthropological reading of phenomenology,
that may be linguistically formulated, is a constitutive
especially of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, I understand that
aspect of experience. It is part of all social practice, but
the process whereby a subject makes sense of the lived-in
not in a uniform sense. "Dona Alice's" retort would
world is social that is, intersubjective and that it takes
certainly not be appropriate or necessary to describe
place over time. In this sense it is microhistorical (Toren
interactions in an event such as Rogerio's party, although,
1999).4 Throughout the ethnographic discussion above,
as I have described, subjects' experiences of such happy
my point has been that such psychic projection cannot
occasions are also not free of color codirlg.
take place on neutral ground, given that each subject
As Soteropolitans encounter each other in the
brings a particular microhistory, with important overlaps
city their common, often unspoken knowledge about
112
difference about race, gender, and class although
processes. The argument then turned to the question of
emerging from different perspectives, enables events such
subjectivity and identity. People do not just learn race and
as the birthday party or the ensaio at Ile to take place. The
class, I argued, they constitute it intersubjectively.
various nuances of racial meanings and their attach-
The naturalization of class occurs as people experience
ment to class are often understood and acted on in such
fluctuations in identity while moving around in the
contexts in an unproblematic sense. Everyone knows
urban environment. One important aspect of this is
what to do and what their actions and speech mean.
the tension between racialization of bodies by space and
The embodied production of culture takes place in a social
racialization of space by bodies, described through eth-
mode, rather than being confined to the workings of
nography of different subjects' journeys through the
single subjectivities (Csordas 1993; Wade 1999). Interac-
city. This description showed that class is naturalized
tion seems effortless and natural. One consequence, in
as each subject's oft-unspoken hlowledge of how to act
Salvador, is that race relations may appear as harmonious
is put to use in endlessly repeated practice. But the
and conflict free.
focus on intersubjectivity highlighted that the process
But this is an illusion. In any local field of semantic
does not stop here. It is open-ended, even though the
production, the embodied knowledge borne by subjects
gaps in the web that binds class to race are at times hard
overlaps and communicates at many junctures, generating
to discern.
the content and style of intersubjective encounters. This
The events and practices that racialize bodies in
means that, as well as unspoken agreement, many gaps,
Salvador appear to be hardened and fixed over the years.
failures to connect, or points of dissonance and friction
As they are repeated daily and in many versions across the
are thrown up out of the disparity between the stand-
urban landscape, they gxve real content to the naturaliza-
points of engaging subjects. My point here is that social
tion of class difference. But time does not stand still. Thus,
differences matter. Both the points of encounter, fruit of
when Soteropolitans move through the city, they are
living together in one place and time, and the points of
engaged, both wittingly and unwittingly, in a process that
disjuncture may reflect and reproduce social inequalities.
operates at various levels. They constitute-their own
So class is not just naturalized because of "what goes
subjective identities, seated in the body; they mold the
without saying" or because of "what may be said." One
subjectivities of others; and they participate in the struc-
way to describe what else is at work is to say that the
turing, practical work that underlies the social and eco-
spaces of intersubjectivity are encompassed by a structural
nomic hierarchy. Yet, at the same time, they may also
level. This formulation (suggested to me by Butler's evo-
contest that hierarchy. Identity as movement is also
cation of "the complex distribution of institutional pro-
promising in this sense, offering not only a rift in the
cesses of racialization" in the above quote) is problematic,
subject but also glimmerings of a rupture in the unequal
however. If racially inflected class differences are experi-
social system.
enced as natural and as describable in a common set
of behaviors that people "know" and do, the practices

of which they are part (such as the birthday party) constitute structuring processes, in a wider sociological sense
Notes
Acknowledgments. Research was financed by the Research
(Bourdieu 1977, 1990, 1998). But care must be taken not
Institute for the Study of Man through an RISM Landes Award
to render class unnecessarily rigid. Note, in this regard
in 1993, and by the Economic and Social Research Council of
that, although the analysis developed in this article is
Great Britain from 1994 to 1997 (R000234961). I am grateful to
deeply marked by the theory of practice, it does not
both institutions. Thanks also to the Nuffield Foundation and to
support the adoption of a concept of "habitus," if by this

is meant a set of embodied "unconscious dispositions."
As critics remark, used in this sense, the notion does not
the British Academy for grants enabling further research. An
earlier version of this article was written while in receipt of the

ESRC award and was presented at the 22nd Encontro Anual de
ANPOCS in Brazil in 1998. I am grateful to Livio Sansone, the
leave space for subjective agency or for change (Gell 1992).
organizer, and all the participants who commented on that
The methodological focus developed in this article has
version. It was rewritten thanks to support from the Simon Fund
allowed an investigation of the dynamic and sequen-
of the University of Manchester, where I was a Simon Fellow

from 2001 to 2004. I gave a version as a seminar to the
tial intersubjective constitution of race and class. I have
Department of Social Anthropology, University of Manchester,
shown that racialization is enacted within social practice.
in the series "Anthropology of and in the City,'^ on November 12,
I wrote the ethnography to pay special attention to "non-
2001. Thanks to the organizers, Penny Harvey and Sarah Green. I
discursive" practice, counterbalancing the greater atten-
gratefully acknowledge the comments and the help given me on
tion to discourse in the available literature. This focus

on practice entailed semiotic analysis of spaces as well
that occasion by colleagues in the department. Special thanks to

Karen Sacks, Luisa Elvira Belaunde, Peter Gow, and Marcio
Goldman for their critical comments and encouragement as
as of bodies, which concluded that the interaction be-
the article neared completion. I also benefited from anonymous
tween the two provides the dynamic driving racialization
readers' comments and the excellent advice of the editor of this
311
journal. My greatest debt is to informants, family, and friends in

Salvador. Final responsibility is my own.
1. Salvador is the capital of the northeastern state of Bahia and
5. I am in agreement with Wade (2002), who calls for a careful
examination of the applicability of the term essentialism in any

particular ethnographic context.
the third-largest city in Brazil. Its population expanded from ca.
6. Intent on thoroughness, Sheriff sought to understand multi-
348,000 in 1945 to nearly two and a half million by 2003 (see
ple points of view, interviewing black activists and also middle-
www.ibge.gov.br). By census classification, 80 percent of its resi-
class persons living in apartment blocks near the favela. She
dents are black or brown, making it the largest concentration of
discusses their narratives using techniques of discourse analysis.
visually marked Afro-descendants in Latin America. The newly in-
This works to enrich and contextualize the study of race in the
dustrialized economy, based on a petrochemical complex estab-
favela, but Sheriff's does not pretend to be an ethnography of
lished in the 1970s, acted as a pull factor for in-migration, rural
activism or of the middle classes. This reliance on discourse
stagnation as a push factor. Economic expansion fostered a new if
analysis, combined with the limits of the material on cross-class
small black working class, whose members earned on a par with
interaction, results in a skewed appreciation of class relations
the mainly white middle class, which expanded greatly at that
outside the favela.
time (Guimaraes 1998; Guimaraes and Castro 1990). Many women
7. See the work of phenomenological geographers and archae-
acquired higher employment qualifications and entered the
ologists, such as Yi-fu Tuan (1977) and Christopher Tilley (1996),
job market. An extended recession in the 1980s and 1990s
who explore "human engagement with the meanings of place"
led to severe job losses and an expansion of the informal sector
(Wade 1999:458). This focus on the symbolic constitution of place
(Guimaraes et al. 1995). Growth in the service sector gave
is one that has recently taken the foreground in critical anthro-
greater employment opportunities to women. Gender and racial
pology, offered as a solution to the collapse of the notion of
inequality persisted (Castro and Barreto 1998). In 2002, women
"spatially territorialized culture" as a theoretical tool (Gupta and
earned much less than men, and blacks and browns much less
Ferguson 1997).
than whites. Many women were employed as domestic servants,
8. See Poewe 1996:179 and Richardson 1996. McClusky 2001 is a
and over 25 percent of the lower-income female population
recent example of the use of memory and imagination in ethno-
were heads of households. Extreme and widespread poverty was
graphic writing.
a cruel and persistent feature of the system. Unemployment
9. Over the 1990s and up to 2004, new apartment buildings
stood at over 20 percent, ranking as the highest among Brazilian
usually received names evoking aristocratic themes and referring
major cities (Veja 2001).
to Europe.
2. Some claim that the Brazilian color classification system's
10. The name of the area and all personal names are fictitious.
distinctive feature is its multipolarity, whereby the plethora of
11. On the Movimento Negro (Black Movement) in Brazil there
terms describe color and phenotype differences on a scale from
is an extensive literature. On the Bahian movement, see, for
darker to lighter. See, for example, Harris 1970 and Harris and
example, Agier 1995, Butler 1998, and Cunha 1998.
Kottack 1963. Much critique and discussion have focused on the
12. Xuxa, a tall and charismatic blond, is a children's tele-
implications of this view; see, for example, Fry 2000, Goldstein
vision star and a sex symbol. On the Xuxa phenomenon, see
1999, Hanchard 1999, Maggie 1991, Reichmann 1999, Sanjek 1991,
Simpson 1993.
Sheriff 2001, and Twine 1998.
13. On Bahian popular music and pagode, see Guerreiro 2000.
3. For overviews of the extensive literature on race in Brazil
14. Peres was known as the "Loira do Tchan" (the blond of the
and comparison of the Brazilian and U.S. racial systems, see, for
Tchan). Deborah, the black female dancer who partnered her, was
example, Wade 1997 and Winant 1992. Denise Ferreira da Silva
known as the "Morena do Tchan," but she left the group a year
(1998) questioned the idea that a Brazilian "racial formation" is
after its first national hit album. TV Globo held a nationwide
a weaker version of the system operating in the United States, a
competition to replace her. The winner, Scheyla Carvalho, is an
point made by Peter Wade (1997) about Latin American racial
olive-skinned brunette with long, smooth hair. In effect, the public
systems, in general. In an irenic extension of the view that
face of samba-pagode was further whitened.
Brazil is different, the supposed national disposition toward

cordiality was said to lie behind "racial democracy" and har-
15. Conversations on a number of occasions with different

babas support this observation.
mony there (Freyre 1959; Pierson 1942). Marvin Harris (1970)
16. This portrait of an upper-middle-class family's rejection of
linked classificatory multipolarity to a supposed absence of clear
marriage between one of its members and a black person is based
racial categories, arguing that social difference was based on
on several actual cases. In a number of interviews, middle-class
class, not race. These views were widely accepted in Brazil, but
whites told me of their own or other families' hostility to accepting
critics demonstrated that dark-skinned Brazilians have little
a nonwhite member.
access to political power and consistently fall at the bottom in

terms of all the main socioeconomic indicators. They argued
17. A compadre relationship is constituted between a couple

and the person who becomes the godparent of their child.
that the myth of racial democracy is, in fact, a camouflage for
18. I have accompanied the person on whom this character is
racism. Michael Hanchard (1994), in particular, attacked the
based to many parties, witnessing such interactions. She often
idea of "racial exceptionalism" (see also Twine 1998). In a
expresses affection for her white friends, willingness to take part in
rebuttal, Peter Fry (2000) defended faithfulness to the canon
festivities, enjoyment during the proceedings, and a sentiment of
of ethnographic specificity. (On this debate, see also Goldstein
relief when the party is over.
1999.) The current consensus is that racial democracy, although
19. Members of the family of the person on whom this charac-
important as a founding myth and also as a project for the
ter is based comment on her preference for sitting in the kitchen
future (Sheriff 2001), cannot be considered descriptive of any
or an equivalent space on such occasions, attributing it to her lack
supposed overall racial formation in Brazil.
of ease in a more formal space.
4. See, for example, Agier 2000; Burdick 1998; Butler 1998;

Caldeira 2000; Cunha 2001; Goldstein 1999; Guerreiro 2000;
Lehmann 1996; McCallum 1996, 1999; Sansone 1992; Shapiro
1995; Sheriff 2001; Silva 1993; Twine 1998; Wafer 1991.
20. See Souza 2000 for a detailed analysis of this process over
the past decades.
21. For example, in 2002, lots in the projected Alphaville con-
dominio, located beside the Paralela, the main road through the
114
northern part of the city, went on sale. The lots sold out on the first
36. On Afro-Brazilian religion in SalvadorX see, for example,
day. Interest in living in such walled communities seems to be a
Shapiro 1995, Teles dos Santos 1992, and Wafer 1991; on Pente-
trend in much of Brazil. See Caldeira 2000 on the fortress city in
costalism, see, for example, Lehman 1996.
37. Sokefeld (1999) argues that a reflexive sense of self consti-
Sao Paulo.
22. Souza (2000: 157) quotes the 1997 National Household

Survey (Pesquisa Nacional Domicilar, or PNAD) to illustrate the
tuted in action is a stabilizing force, in the face of the pull of

multiple possible identities.
size of the divide. Residents of the symbolic Cidade Alta included
38. John Burdick's (1998) study in Rio de Janeiro found that
those 9.6 percent of people over ten years old who earned
black Protestant women sought subjective fulfillment through
between $600 and $2,000 and the 2.5 percent who earned more
religious practice, not through constructing a racial identity, but
than $2,000. By contrast, 43.8 percent of the population over ten
that their past experiences of racialization were an important
declared earnings of less than $200 and another 43 percent had
aspect of their searches. He also found that many women appre-
no earnings whatsoever these were the residents of the sym-
ciated the possibility for "whitening" afforded by their involvement in the church, including the availability of lighter-colored
bolic Cidade Baixa.
23. Antonio Riserio (1981) describes how, as a child on car rides

through the Cidade Baixa, he would shut the windows, pretending
that the "Indians" would attack.
marriage partners.
39. For a discussion of the increasing popularity of the term

moreno, see Guimaraes 2002.
24. For example, distinctions between districts in the bairros
40. The influence of phenomenology in the theoretical ap-
nobres take into account factors such as length of occupation and
proach espoused here is evident. Although certain notions
age of the buildings. The older the bairro, the less prestigious it is,
developed by sociologists such as Alfred Schutz and other phe-
unless some other factor intervenes, such as the proximity to one
nomenologists, for example, "stocks of knowledge," "indetermi-
of the main upper-middle-class shopping centers. In conse-
nacy," or "sedimentation," are relevant to the argument here, a
quence, new apartments, such as Rogerio's in Alto das Flores,
proper discussion must be left to another opportunity.
fetch high prices on the property market, whereas older, more

spacious ones are undervalued. Access by car is important to
buyers on middle-class incomes, whereas those on low incomes
value neighborhoods where there is good access by public transport to places of work and study.
25. On kinship and the social structure of low-income areas,

see, for example, Agier 1990, 2000; Woortman 1987.
26. Preto (black) is the color term used in the census and
sometimes in day-to-day discourse in Salvador. Overall, it has
negative connotations there. The black movement prefers the
term negro, said to refer to race, not color.
27. Olivia Gomes da Cunha (2001:122-123) makes a similar

point about residents leaving the favela Vigario Geral in Rio to
travel into the city.
28. Such values are also, on occasion, challenged or inverted

for example, during ritual events, such as carnival (Serra 1999),
or historical upheavals, such as the renovation of Pelourinho
(Butler 1998).
29. Asa de Aguia is a well-known band that plays a variant of

axe music. See Guerreiro 2000.
30. These quotes and musings are direct citations from the
person on whom the character is modeled.
31. The positively valued term moreno connotes Brazilianness.

Although it is used to denote persons of all kinds of racial types, it
acquires higher value when attached to the brancos of European
origin. When used to describe dark-skinned people with African
features, it works as a euphemism.
32. See Agier 1990, 1991, 1992a, 1992b, 2000. On the racialization of space and place in working-class Salvador, see also
Guimaraes et al. 1995, Sansone 1992, and Silva 1993.
33. The term barao (baron) is a popular euphemism for a
wealthy or simply middle-class person.
34. Candomble is an Afro-Brazilian religion. The terreiros

(religious centers) organize festas open to the public on certain occasions.
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Racialized Bodies, Naturalized Classes: Moving through the City of Salvador da Bahia

Author(s): Cecilia McCallum

Instituto de Saude Coletiva, Universidade Federal da Bahia

Racialized bodies, naturalized classes:

Racialization takes place when differences between human beings are

In this article, I describe racialization processes in

simplified and transformed into Difference, overvaluing particular bodily

Bahia, focusing on a broadly defined field of social

duced and reproduced through ideological, institutional, interactive, and

practice. In a cross-class ethnographic portrait of

linguistic practices that support a particular construction of Difference.

the city, I examine the situated, embodied

Virginia R. Dominguez, 1994

production of meanings about the body, as

trace the emergence of racialization from residents'

movement that does not return to where it always was, identit,v as

microhistorical passages through the metropolis as

movement in the promising sense.

these sediment into a shared, if partial, knowledge

-Judith Butler, 1995

about difference and identity. I argue that it is

acialization is the product of embodied experience, occurring

ceaselessly reconstruct themselves, that grounds

the mutual constitution of whiteness and of

and novels of many, mainly black, writers and intellectuals. But

blackness in the city. Further, these processes

_implications of the embodied production of racialization. Two

Thus, if a uniting factor underlies the diversity of

questions, in particular, invite further exploration: How do embodied

discourses circulating in the city, it is the

practices reproduce entrenched society-vvide inequalities while both pro-

embodied by-product of subjective experience.

[racialization, class, subjectivity, identity,

such inequalities naturalized, for instance, as class? Such questions pose a

experience, Brazil, Salvador da Bahia]

methodological challenge to anthropology, one that I take up here in the

AMERICANETHNOLOGIST, Vol. 32, No. 1, pp. 100-117, ISSN 0094-0496, electronic

Racialized bodies, naturalized classes * American Ethnologist

follows, has caused something of a methodological im-

sition between "us" as negro (black) and "them" as

passe when it comes to discussing racialization.

branco (white) in contexts of talk about class. In what

In studies of Salvador, the metropolis in focus here,

follows, I show that this negro-branco contrast, which

the articulation of the two traditions is evident. Race and

may be named (but often is not), is not best described as

class inequality there has long been described as extreme

a system of racial classification; further, it is more than

and entrenched (Azevedo 1959; Guimaraes 2002).1 More

evidence of a social order governed by a hegemonic

than 80 percent of the population is both poor and visibly

discourse. Sheriff's ethnography is rich in discussion of

Afro-descendant and most of the upper and upper-middle

all manner of social practice, not just discursive, so lifting

classes look European. Yet "Soteropolitans," as the city's

the above quotes from her work is somewhat unfair. But

natives are called, do not readily think of class position as

they do help my own purpose in highlighting the need to

determined by a racial identity. Indeed, one often hears

look beyond the role of language in creating the bounds of

claims that all Brazilians are a mixture of races. As else-

what people mean by "race." Thus, I follow the lead

where in Brazil, naming race is not straightforward. In

provided by Sheriff and others in emphasizing context