Scholars throughout the Americas have spent much of the 20th century studying race and its meaning in Brazil. Racial identities in Brazil are dynamic concepts which can only be understood if situated and explored within the appropriate cultural context. Empirical evidence of the fluidity of racial identification quickly came to the authors' attention within the context of a prevention initiative targeting segments of the Rio de Janeiro population at high risk for HIV/AIDS. Because the main objective of this program was to slow the spread of AIDS through an intervention designed to promote behavioral change, comparisons of client data at the baseline and follow-up assessments form the core of the analyses. Through quality control procedures used to link client information collected at different points in time, it was revealed that 106 clients, or 12.5% of the follow-up sample, had changed their racial self-identification. The authors' attempts to engage project staff in a dialogue about the fluidity of racial identity among these clients have provided some insight into what might be called the "contextual redefinition" of race in Brazil. Within the framework of this study, the ramifications of this phenomenon are clear. Racial comparisons of HIV risk, sexual activity, drug use, and behavioral change, which are part and parcel of U.S.-based research, would appear to be of little utility in this setting.
PIP: Although Brazil has always prided itself as being a place in which racial discrimination is not tolerated, most Black Brazilians recognize that they are discriminated against. Considerable research has been conducted during the 20th century upon race and its meaning in Brazil, a country in which racial identity is a dynamic concept capable of being understood only if situated and explored within the appropriate cultural context. In 1993, the National Institute on Drug Abuse funded a cooperative agreement project in Rio de Janeiro designed and implemented to slow the spread of HIV/AIDS through behavioral change. Data collection instruments developed for US populations were standardized across intervention sites, which allowed program participants to self-identify as Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, or other. However, these limited terms failed to capture the full extent of racial diversity in Brazil. More than 1500 clients were initially recruited, with follow-up interviews completed with 849. By follow-up, 106 clients, 12.5% of the follow-up sample, had changed their racial self-identification: 5.7% from Black to White, 30.2% from Black to Brown, 20.8% from White to Brown, 3.8% from White to Black, 23.6% from Brown to Black, and 15.1% from Brown to White. The study of race and race relations in Brazil is a complex undertaking which requires the thorough examination of Brazilian culture and history. Theories of race in Brazil and the self-identification of race in the Brazil cooperative agreement are discussed. Race is of little use in Brazil as a construct for analysis.