New Approaches to the Study of Race in Brazil

Dear Colleagues, 

Societal inequalities in Brazil have been widely studied ever since the 1950s, with outstanding scholarship contributing to our understanding of the importance of race, gender, and class in structuring Brazilian realities. Regional studies have further added nuance to this effort so that we are, today, in a very good position when explaining durable societal inequalities in Brazil, both historical and contemporary. However, there are still lacunae in this scholarship. For one, most studies have focused on the three regions, cities, and states with the strongest Afro-Brazilian populations—Salvador Bahia; Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo. Not enough is known about durable societal inequalities in other cities, states, and regions of Brazil. Secondly, the study of inequality has been dominated by sociology, political science, and anthropology, which is not surprising, given their disciplinary scope. While still welcoming new studies from those disciplines, particularly when applying new or less conventional theories, concepts, or frameworks, we believe that insights from other disciplines can enrich our understanding of this problem. Third, we encourage studies that go beyond the white–black dyad and include Asian, Middle Eastern, and Indigenous groups in their analyses. Finally, we are interested in new methodologies, theories, and frameworks applied to the study of durable societal inequalities that go beyond the class, race, and gender framework, or combine them in new and innovative ways.  

In this Special Issue, we invite submissions that examine societal inequalities in Brazil, with particular attention to the roles of race, gender, class, status, and religion. Given the long history of studies focusing on this topic, we are particularly interested in new approaches in this field, from disciplines such as political science, sociology, anthropology, geography, and history, but also from religious studies, economy, and literature. We also explicitly want to encourage scholars with interdisciplinary training to submit their research. Methodologically, we encourage scholars to apply innovative, mixed, and less common approaches, such as (fuzzy) set analysis, geo-mapping, network analysis, small-n, and auto-ethnographic studies. While we are open to all regional foci and nation-level analyses, we encourage contribution examining less-studied regions and states, such as Piauí, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Acre, Sergipe, Espírito Santo, Maranhão, Tocantins, Roraima, Amapá, Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba, and Alagoas. 

Prof. Dr. Bernd Reiter
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Social Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.