“Literature and Racial Integration” by José Mauricio Gomes de Almeida: Summary and Critique

Introduction: “Literature and Racial Integration” by José Mauricio Gomes de Almeida

“Literature and Racial Integration” by José Mauricio Gomes de Almeida first appeared in an academic journal, discussing the profound impact of racial and cultural mixing on Brazilian literature and identity. The article explores how Brazil’s colonial history, marked by the Portuguese settlers’ interactions with Indigenous and African populations, created a unique social structure where racial integration, while not erasing prejudice, shaped the nation’s cultural and artistic development. Gomes de Almeida traces the representation of mixed-race individuals in Brazilian literature, from the 17th-century poetry of Gregório de Matos, who both admired and resented the presence of mulattos in society, to the 19th-century Romanticism of José de Alencar, who mythologized racial mixing through idealized narratives of Indigenous-European unions. The article highlights how realism and modernism further refined these portrayals, particularly in the works of Machado de Assis, a mulatto writer who became Brazil’s most esteemed literary figure, and Jorge Amado, who celebrated Afro-Brazilian culture in novels like Tenda dos Milagres. Through an analysis of these literary movements, Gomes de Almeida underscores how racial integration in Brazil, unlike in other post-colonial societies, became a defining literary theme, challenging European racial hierarchies and offering a distinct vision of national identity. The article is significant in literary theory as it emphasizes how literature not only reflects historical realities but actively participates in shaping the discourse on race and national identity.

Summary of “Literature and Racial Integration” by José Mauricio Gomes de Almeida

• Historical Context of Racial Mixing in Brazil
  • Unlike English North America, Portuguese colonizers in Brazil arrived without families, leading to widespread intermixing with Indigenous and African women (Gomes de Almeida, 2015).
  • This process created a racially mixed society, where the children of these unions often occupied an intermediate social space, forming an early working and artisan class (Gomes de Almeida, 2015).
  • The mixed-race presence was reflected in early Brazilian art, such as the works of Aleijadinho (1738–1814) and Manuel da Costa Ataíde, who depicted a mulatto Virgin Mary in his paintings (Gomes de Almeida, 2015).
• Early Literary Representations of Racial Mixing
  • In the 17th century, Gregório de Matos captured the paradoxical attitudes toward mixed-race people: while mulatto women were admired, mulatto men were satirized for competing with white elites (Gomes de Almeida, 2015).
  • His poetry reflects both admiration for and anxiety about Brazil’s racial hybridity, illustrating an early awareness of race relations in the colony (Gomes de Almeida, 2015).
• Romanticism and Indianist Myth-making
  • During the 19th century, José de Alencar idealized the fusion of Indigenous and European cultures in novels like O Guarani (1857) and Iracema (1865), presenting racial mixing as part of Brazil’s national identity (Gomes de Almeida, 2015).
  • However, Africans were largely excluded from this nationalist myth due to the ongoing practice of slavery (Gomes de Almeida, 2015).
  • In contrast, Bernardo Guimarães’ novel A Escrava Isaura (1875) depicted a nearly white mulatta as the heroine, demonstrating the reluctance to fully embrace blackness in literature (Gomes de Almeida, 2015).
• Realist Literature and the Rise of Mixed-Race Intellectuals
  • The late 19th-century Realist movement addressed racial prejudice more directly, as seen in Aluísio Azevedo’s O Mulato (1881), which critiques the discrimination faced by educated mulattos (Gomes de Almeida, 2015).
  • Machado de Assis, Brazil’s greatest writer and a dark-skinned mulatto, overcame racial barriers to become the first president of the Brazilian Academy of Letters, proving the ability of mixed-race individuals to integrate into elite society (Gomes de Almeida, 2015).
• Euclides da Cunha and the Racial Debate
  • In Os Sertões (1902), Euclides da Cunha initially adopted racial theories that condemned racial mixing but later acknowledged the resilience of mixed-race people in the backlands of Brazil (Gomes de Almeida, 2015).
  • This shift highlights the growing recognition of mestiçagem (racial mixing) as a defining characteristic of Brazilian identity (Gomes de Almeida, 2015).
• Modernism and the Cultural Celebration of Racial Mixing
  • The 1920s Modernist Movement embraced Brazil’s racial and cultural hybridity, as exemplified by Mário de Andrade’s Macunaíma (1928), which uses indigenous and African myths to define Brazilian identity (Gomes de Almeida, 2015).
  • Oswald de Andrade’s “Cannibalism” movement advocated for absorbing European influences while maintaining Brazil’s unique mixed heritage (Gomes de Almeida, 2015).
• Jorge Amado and Afro-Brazilian Representation
  • Jorge Amado revolutionized Brazilian literature by centering Afro-Brazilian culture in novels like Jubiabá (1935) and Tenda dos Milagres (1969), which celebrated racial mixing as a national strength (Gomes de Almeida, 2015).
  • His work marked a shift from seeing racial mixing as a social problem to viewing it as a source of cultural vitality (Gomes de Almeida, 2015).
• Conclusion: Literature as a Reflection of Brazil’s Racial Identity
  • The long trajectory of Brazilian literature reflects evolving attitudes toward race, from early ambivalence to Romantic idealization, Realist critique, and Modernist celebration (Gomes de Almeida, 2015).
  • Writers like Alencar, Machado de Assis, Mário de Andrade, and Jorge Amado played key roles in shaping the discourse on racial integration, ultimately affirming mestiçagem as central to Brazilian identity (Gomes de Almeida, 2015).

Theoretical Terms/Concepts in “Literature and Racial Integration” by José Mauricio Gomes de Almeida

Theoretical Term/Concept	Definition	Relevance in the Article
Mestiçagem (Racial Mixing)	The blending of different racial and ethnic groups into a single society.	Central to Brazilian identity and literature, shaping cultural and artistic expressions (Gomes de Almeida, 2015).
Indianism (Indianismo)	A literary movement that idealized Indigenous people as noble ancestors of Brazil.	Seen in José de Alencar’s O Guarani and Iracema, where Indigenous-European integration is celebrated (Gomes de Almeida, 2015).
Romantic Nationalism	The use of literature to construct a national identity based on myths and idealized histories.	Brazilian Romanticism elevated Indigenous figures while neglecting African contributions (Gomes de Almeida, 2015).
Social Hierarchy & Mulatto Identity	The positioning of mixed-race individuals within a social structure influenced by colonialism.	Figures like Gregório de Matos and Machado de Assis show the shifting roles of mulattos in Brazilian society (Gomes de Almeida, 2015).
Scientific Racism	19th-century pseudoscientific theories claiming racial hierarchies and white superiority.	Euclides da Cunha initially embraced but later questioned these ideas in Os Sertões (Gomes de Almeida, 2015).
Modernism & Cultural Cannibalism	The Modernist movement’s approach to absorbing and transforming European influences into a distinct Brazilian culture.	Oswald de Andrade’s “Cannibalism” movement advocated for the fusion of cultural elements (Gomes de Almeida, 2015).
Afro-Brazilian Cultural Recognition	The acknowledgment of African heritage in shaping Brazil’s culture and literature.	Jorge Amado’s works like Tenda dos Milagres celebrate the African influence on Brazilian society (Gomes de Almeida, 2015).
Literary Realism	A movement that portrays everyday realities, often critiquing social issues like race and class.	O Mulato by Aluísio Azevedo was the first novel to directly challenge racial prejudice (Gomes de Almeida, 2015).
Post-Colonial Identity Formation	The process by which former colonies construct their unique cultural and racial identities.	Brazilian literature evolved from European imitation to embracing its mixed-race identity (Gomes de Almeida, 2015).
Myth of National Identity	The idea that a nation builds a self-image based on historical and literary narratives.	Literature played a role in shaping Brazil’s mestizo identity, despite its complex racial history (Gomes de Almeida, 2015).

Contribution of “Literature and Racial Integration” by José Mauricio Gomes de Almeida to Literary Theory/Theories

Examples of Critiques Through “Literature and Racial Integration” by José Mauricio Gomes de Almeida

Literary Work	Critique through “Literature and Racial Integration”	Key References from Almeida’s Work
Iracema (1865) by José de Alencar	The novel idealizes racial mixing through the romance between a Portuguese colonizer and an indigenous woman, symbolizing national integration. However, it largely omits African influence, focusing on the European-Indian fusion.	Almeida highlights that Indianist literature served nationalist purposes, but ignored the African role in Brazilian identity (Almeida, p. 75).
O Mulato (1881) by Aluísio Azevedo	This novel critiques racial prejudice, showing a well-educated mulatto protagonist unable to escape racial discrimination. It exposes the social barriers that persisted despite Brazil’s racial mixing.	Almeida recognizes the novel as the first to feature a mulatto protagonist, emphasizing how racial prejudice hindered social mobility (Almeida, p. 77).
Os Sertões (1902) by Euclides da Cunha	The book reflects positivist racial theories but contradicts them by admiring the resilience of mixed-race sertanejos. It reveals contradictions in 19th-century racial ideology.	Almeida notes that da Cunha’s portrayal of racial mixing evolved from racist theory to an acknowledgment of its strength (Almeida, p. 78-80).
Tenda dos Milagres (1969) by Jorge Amado	This novel celebrates Afro-Brazilian culture and racial integration, challenging European-centric intellectualism and racism. It portrays mixed-race identity as central to Brazilian identity.	Almeida considers this work a turning point, as it fully embraces racial mixing and Afro-Brazilian culture as integral to Brazil’s literary and social identity (Almeida, p. 82-83).

Criticism Against “Literature and Racial Integration” by José Mauricio Gomes de Almeida

1. Overemphasis on Racial Harmony
   • Almeida portrays racial integration as a defining and largely positive aspect of Brazilian history but overlooks the deep and persistent racial inequalities that continue to exist.
   • The text sometimes minimizes the structural racism that shaped (and still shapes) Brazilian society, particularly in terms of economic and social mobility.
2. Limited Engagement with Postcolonial Theory
   • While Almeida discusses colonial racial mixing, he does not engage deeply with postcolonial critiques that address power imbalances and the lasting impact of European dominance.
   • The work does not fully explore how literature reflects colonial hegemonic ideologies, nor how Afro-Brazilian and Indigenous voices have been historically marginalized in literary traditions.
3. Romanticization of Racial Mixing
   • Almeida follows Gilberto Freyre’s notion of lusotropicalism, which idealizes Portuguese colonialism as more benevolent and open to racial mixing compared to other colonial powers.
   • Critics argue that this perspective downplays the violence, exploitation, and systemic oppression experienced by Afro-Brazilians and Indigenous peoples.
4. Neglect of Black Literary Voices
   • The text gives more weight to mixed-race and indigenous representation in literature while offering limited focus on Black-authored literary works that directly challenge racism.
   • Writers like Lima Barreto and Cruz e Souza, who explicitly dealt with racial identity and injustice, receive relatively less attention compared to Romantic and Modernist authors.
5. Essentialist Approach to Brazilian Identity
   • The work presents Brazilian identity as inherently mixed-race (mestiçagem), but this framing can obscure the ongoing racial stratification in Brazilian society.
   • The concept of a “unified Brazilian race” can be problematic, as it ignores the continued social exclusion of Afro-Brazilians and Indigenous communities.
6. Lack of Feminist and Gender Analysis
   • While discussing racial integration, the book does not critically analyze the role of gender, particularly how interracial relationships were often the result of colonial sexual violence.
   • The portrayal of Indigenous and Black women in literature is not sufficiently scrutinized in terms of how they were exoticized and objectified by white and male authors.
7. Absence of a Comparative Global Perspective
   • The book largely focuses on Brazil’s racial integration in isolation, without comparing it to similar processes in other former colonies such as the Caribbean or Latin America.
   • A broader comparative analysis could strengthen the argument by showing how Brazil’s experience fits into wider postcolonial and racial discourse.

Representative Quotations from “Literature and Racial Integration” by José Mauricio Gomes de Almeida with Explanation

Quotation	Explanation
“Brazil tended to accept racial mixing as a de facto reality.”	This statement highlights how racial mixing was an inherent part of Brazilian colonial history due to Portuguese settlers’ interactions with Indigenous and African populations. It sets the stage for Almeida’s argument about Brazil’s unique racial integration compared to other colonial nations.
“Although this historical circumstance did not eliminate racial prejudice, it made a strict policy of discrimination… totally impractical.”	Almeida acknowledges that racial mixing did not eradicate racism but argues that Brazilian society could not sustain segregationist policies like those in the United States. This reflects the argument that Brazil’s racial structure was distinct, yet still marked by prejudice.
“The noteworthy fact is that mulatto features are not restricted to the Virgin but invade the whole composition.”	This refers to Manuel da Costa Ataíde’s painting of the Assumption, where the Virgin and angels are depicted with mixed-race features. It symbolizes the deep racial integration in Brazil’s artistic and cultural expression.
“Among the non-European peoples who contributed to the historical formation of Brazil—Amerindians and Africans—it was the Indians who first came to the fore in the Romantic imagination.”	Almeida critiques how Romanticism in Brazilian literature idealized Indigenous peoples while marginalizing Africans, reflecting nationalistic myth-making rather than an authentic portrayal of racial integration.
“The African is not linked to the genesis of the Brazilian, not even in the lyrical and idealized form that Alencar applies to the Indian.”	This highlights a gap in Brazilian literary history, where African heritage was often excluded from national identity-building efforts in literature, unlike Indigenous heritage.
“A mulatto appears for the first time as a novel’s central character in the work that opens the realist period of Brazilian literature; in fact, its title is O Mulato (1881).”	Almeida points out that racial themes gained more direct attention in Realist literature, shifting from the symbolic Romantic portrayals of racial mixing to addressing social barriers against mixed-race individuals.
“If Brazil has contributed something important to the enrichment of world culture, it is because of ethnic intermingling—this is the sign of our presence in the legacy of humanism.”	This reflects Almeida’s central thesis that Brazil’s most defining cultural contribution is racial and cultural mixing, which he sees as a positive force in shaping national identity.
“In Macunaíma the issue of racial mixing is extrapolated from the limited domain of social or sociological mimetism to embrace, on a symbolic level, the whole of Brazilian reality.”	Almeida discusses Mário de Andrade’s Macunaíma, emphasizing how Modernist literature fully integrated racial and cultural mixing into its representation of Brazilian identity.
“Pedro Archanjo, the reverse of Argolo, represents moral resistance to racism and as such is the spokesman for some of the ideas that are dearest to the author’s heart.”	Almeida highlights how Jorge Amado’s Tenda dos Milagres directly challenges racist ideologies by presenting a protagonist who embraces and defends Afro-Brazilian culture.
“Today in Brazil, considered as a whole, this experience has been considerably extended and the original elements of the mix… have been joined by others: Italians, Germans, Arabs, Japanese, and many more.”	The final argument in Almeida’s work acknowledges that Brazilian racial integration has continued beyond its colonial roots, incorporating a wide range of immigrant influences.

Suggested Readings: “Literature and Racial Integration” by José Mauricio Gomes de Almeida

1. Mauricio Gomes de Almeida, José. “Literature and Racial Integration.” Diogenes 48.191 (2000): 72-83.
2. Davis, Arthur P. “Integration and Race Literature.” Phylon (1940-1956), vol. 17, no. 2, 1956, pp. 141–46. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/272587. Accessed 15 Mar. 2025.
3. Goff, Brian L., et al. “Racial Integration as an Innovation: Empirical Evidence from Sports Leagues.” The American Economic Review, vol. 92, no. 1, 2002, pp. 16–26. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3083319. Accessed 15 Mar. 2025.
4. Jefferson, Ruth Bryant. “Some Obstacles to Racial Integration.” The Journal of Negro Education, vol. 26, no. 2, 1957, pp. 145–54. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2293340. Accessed 15 Mar. 2025.