White Middle-Class Men in Rio de Janeiro

In this book based on the biographical accounts of upper-middle-class white men living in wealthy parts of Rio de Janeiro, Valeria Ribeiro Corossacz analyzes specific experiences of whiteness as they are produced at the intersection of multiple categories—in particular gender, class, and sexuality. White Middle-Class Men in Rio de Janeiro: The Making of a Dominant Subject investigates what it means to be classified as a white person and a man in a society that is known for its valorization of racial mixing and yet deeply structured by racism, class, and gender inequalities. By examining instances of silence and what is left unsaid as well as precise descriptions of power relations and violent episodes, this book encourages the reader to observe the condition of dominant subjects as a keystone of the reproduction of social discrimination.

Brazilian-Italian anthropologist Valeria Ribeiro Corssacz offers an interesting glimpse into white privilege in her book. . . . White Middle-Class Men in Rio de Janeiro: The Making of a Dominant Subject is a relatively short yet thorough read. It would especially appeal to students and academic professionals interested in anthropology, sociology, gender studies, ethnic studies, Latin American studies, Lusophone studies, or African diasporic studies. Corssacz’ work. . . is written in a manner that students of all levels can grasp., In a penetrating analysis that is at once timely and long overdue, Ribeiro Corossacz examines the self-perceptions of Brazil’s most privileged citizens: middle-class white men living in the nation’s most iconic city.  “What makes a white man white?” she asks her interviewees—and is often met by a telling combination of silences and stories of domination.  In highly readable prose, backed by thorough scholarship, Ribeiro Corossacz pursues what Laura Nader long ago called “studying up”—investigating the lives of those, who by virtue of their constructed identities, wield power and privilege in the durable hierarchies of global capitalism.  Readers will discover here a valuable contribution not just to Latin American studies but to urgent theories of intersectionality.        , White Middle-Class Men in Rio de Janeiro: The Making of a Dominant Subject by Valeria Ribeiro Corossacz is a beautifully written, rigorously researched, and groundbreaking ethnography of racial consciousness. This "ethnography of consciousness" is a significant empirical and theoretical contribution to a Critical Race Studies, Whiteness Studies, Latin American Studies, and Brazilian Studies. It is a standout and should be required reading for anyone interested in critical race theory., Valeria Corossacz Ribeiro's book provides a much needed and powerful analysis of whiteness in Brazilian society. The stories of white Brazilian men and their relations with nonwhite domestic employees reveal white privilege unlike that discussed for the global North, illuminating an important aspect of the Brazilian racial system.    

Valeria Ribeiro Corossacz is associate professor of anthropology at the Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia.