Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Connecticut Law Review
Volume
43
Publication Date
2010
Keywords
post-racialism, critical race theory, comparative law, Brazil
Abstract
This Commentary Article aims to illustrate the value of comparative law to the jurisprudence of Critical Race Theory (CRT), particularly with reference to the CRT project of deconstructing the mystique of "postracialism. " The central thesis of the Article is that the dangerous seductions of a U.S. ideology of "post-racialism" are more clearly identified when subject to the comparative law lens. In particular, a comparison to the Brazilian racial democracy version of "post-racialism"is an instructive platform from which to assess the advisability of promoting post-racial analyses of U.S. racial inequality. In Part I the Article introduces the value of comparative law to the future development of CRT Part II provides an overview of Brazilian "post-racial" discourse. Part III then details the quantitative and qualitative indicators of racial discrimination and intersectional race and gender discrimination in Brazil. Part IV focuses upon the Brazilian legal opposition to post-racialism as evidenced by a recent intersectional anti-discrimination case. The Article then concludes that the critical comparative examination of the Brazilian version of "post-racialism" assists in elucidating the concrete counterintuitive harms of a "post-racial" perspective in the United States.
Recommended Citation
Tanya K. Hernandez,
Value of Intersectional Comparative Analysis to the Post-Racial Future of Critical Race Theory: A Brazil-U.S. Comparative Case Study, The Commentary: Critical Race Theory: A Commemoration: Response, 43 Conn. L. Rev. 1407
(2010-2011)
Available at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/faculty_scholarship/18
