Edward Telles, Princeton University Eastern Sociological Society February 28, 2015

 [famously]“The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line”  [followed by:] “- the relation of the darker to the lighter races of men in Asia and Africa, in America and the islands of the sea”  Note “color” (continuous) and “the races” (categorical)  Note: global scope

Brazil 4,864,000 British Caribbean 2,318,000 Spanish Americas1,293,000 French Caribbean1,120,000 Dutch America445,000 Mainland North America (U.S.)389,000 Other 274,000 TOTAL9,405,000 Source: Eltis, Slave Voyages Database 2014

 From 2010 National Random Surveys by PERLA  Ten Countries (80% of Latin America)  Two Stages : 1. PERLA Surveys of Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Peru in 2. PERLA Ethnicity Module in 2010 America’s Barometer in Brazil, Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Ecuador Approximately cases for each country

 1. In interest of unifying nations and distinguishing themselves from “racist countries,” nation-building elites made mestizaje central to national identity  2. Mestizo (mixed race person) became prototypical national  3. Indigeneity and especially Blackness Cleansed or Denied  4. Mestizaje and lack of race-based laws used to deny racism  5. No legal racial segregation or exclusion (except in Caribbean and Panama) after Abolition  6. Racial Classification: customary and appearance-based (Not legal- or descent-based like the U.S.)  7. All of Above Lead to Racial Fluidity

 How Useful Is Self-Identification in Ethnoracial Categories, the Standard Way of Collecting Race/Ethnicity Date, for Predicting Inequality?  What if Use Actual Skin Color, which reflects perspective by others and fine grain distinctions?  How is Ethnoracial Categorization Endogenous, Particular with Respect to Status?

 1. Self-Identification by Ethnoracial Categories  2. Interviewer-Rated Skin Color

 Captures Latin American Conceptions of Race that are Appearance-Based and Continuous  Rarely Named or Recognized  Captures Fine Grain Distinctions, across and within Census Ethnoracial Categories like Mestizo  Measured by Interviewer Using a Color Palette at Beginning of Survey

Ethnic identity and skin color, (1=Lightest, 11=Darkest)

 Skin Color Findings Reveal a Consistent Racial Hierarchy in Quite Distinct Countries  Ethnoracial Identification Findings Less Robust and often not in Expected Direction  Indigenous People Disadvantaged  Perhaps Color, which is based on outward appearance and continuous distinctions,  better captures black disadvantage and white advantage because it better reflects racial discrimination, which is based on treatment (by others)  No Evidence of a Color Line  Little Evidence of Money Whitening; More on Money Darkening  Effects of Status Respond to Particular Incentives and Interests  National Dynamics (State Policies, National Narratives and Black Movements) Shape the Effects of Status on Racial Classification

Telles, Edward and Tianna Paschel ”Who is Black, White or Mixed Race? How Skin Color, Status and Nation Shape Racial Classification in Latin America” American Journal of Sociology. 120(3) November Telles, Edward, René Flores and Fernando Urrea Giraldo. In Press, “Pigmentocracies: Skin Color, Census Ethnoracial Categories and Educational Inequality in Eight Latin American Countries” Research in Social Stratification and Mobility