BEYOND THE WHITENESS QUOTA: Racism and Sexism as a Despotic Discipline in the Factory Economy of Rio de Janeiro (1945-60)

Abstract

The myth of racial democracy constantly tries to hide from our memory tensions and hierarchies based on race privilege. In this article, I debate how this affects historiography, especially in the areas of economic and labor history. Denouncing the lack of concern among scholars for the black experience, in this essay I propose to consider theorical and methodological ways to reflect on racism as an organizer of opportunities and dehumanization in the discipline at industrial corporations in Rio de Janeiro. I also interpret attitudes taken by blacks as consciousness of the struggle against the impositions of whiteness.