Endogenous Race in Brazil: Affirmative Action and the Construction of Racial Identity among Young Adults

The article contributes to the literature on racial identity in sociology and ethnic studies. Race was measured in several different ways. On the survey, respondents were initially asked to describe their racial identification in one or two words. They were then asked to place themselves into one of five categories: branco, pardo, preto, Asian, or indigenous. This is the standard race question used by the Brazilian Statistical Agency. Summary statistics reflect the complexity of race among UnB students. Tabulations of PSEU data show that the most homogeneous responses to the open-ended question pertained to respondents on the ends of the racial continuum, whereas the most heterogeneous responses pertained to respondents in the middle of the continuum. Self-identified pardos tend to be darker skinned than self-identified brancos, and self-identified pretos tend to be darker skinned than self-identified pardos. Nevertheless, there exists heterogeneity in skin tone within each of the three racial groups.