Research Projects from 1998 - 2001

It's Hard to be Black in Brazil:   No One Wants the Label

By Tamara Albury '98

Major: Sociology/Africana Studies

Advisor: Martha Huggins

   This is an exploratory study of poor African Brazilian children's perceptions of blackness in Brazil. This study examines black consciousness of poor African Brazilian children, proposing that if Brazil's black consciousness movement has progressed, then poor  black children--who have least access to the Black consciousness movement--will identify themselves as Negro, seeing blackness positively.

  This research was conducted in a poor slum community, situated within a larger rich community in São Paulo, Brazil.  The sample of eight African Brazilian children ranging in age from six to ten, was obtained at a favela community center.  The children were all approximately the same dark complexion and poor social class.  The data were collected through interviews asking what the youth think about black people, about the kinds of occupations they have, about social and personal characteristics of blacks, and about what they saw as their ethnicity.  In addition, the youth were asked to draw themselves, selecting the flesh colored crayon that was closest to their own skin color.  Their photographs were taken to compare with drawings.

  A primary finding relates to the way the children identified themselves.  Only one out of the eight black children identified as "Negro" or Black, even though all had about the same dark complexion and negroid facial features.  All the children stated that blacks were not liked in Brazil because they were chato (annoying).  By not identifying with being black, the children are distancing themselves from a category they believe to be bad. 

   A second finding was that the children chose lighter and white people as the "most attractive"; the dark-skinned people were seen as unattractive and poor.

   The data suggest that the children in the sample did not identify with being Negro and characterized blackness unfavorably.  They did not have a view of blackness that someone with positive black consciousness would have; they did not identify with or want to be black.  They described blackness annoying and ugly.

   Based upon my findings, the children do not have black consciousness and therefore the black consciousness movement has not progressed into Brazil's poorest classes.

Alyssa Forslund

This study focuses on one way violence against women is dealt with in São Paulo City. It examines the process of reporting violence, focusing on the police stations for battered women (Delegacias da Defese da Mulher). Observations and interviews were conducted over five weeks in São Paulo City. It was discovered that while the Women’s police stations were created to provide a service that is sensitive to battered women’s special needs, little has been done to prepare police women in these stations for the types of services their clients need. In many cases, their services further victimize female clients.

Women Who get Beaten: Victims or Perpetrators?

This study examines the treatment of female victims of gender-specific violence in São Paulo, Brazil through interviews with police officers and clients and by observing interactions between clients and police at a women’s police station for battered women, the Delegacia de Defsa da Mulher. The lack of criminalization in much violence against women is linked in part to police women’s belief that certain types of abused women (e.g., "bad’ wives, prostitutes) ‘deserved’ what they got. Such attitudes and the complicated bureaucracy for reporting and pursuing abuses transforms victims of abuse into ‘perpetrators’ who are abandoned by the system.

Life on the Streets: The Informal Sector in São Paulo, Brazil

This study examines the composition and economics of the informal economy in São Paulo City. More specifically, is focuses on the street vendors of the city’s modern Paulista Avenue region. Information was obtained through non-participant observation and interviews with selected street vendors and with the head of the street vendors union. It was found that the economics of the informal sector has much in common with formal sector economics: Street vendors have a clear concept of supply, demand, and the cost structures of their products.

Gender and Sexually Transmitted Disease (SDT): A Study of Chlamydia in São Paulo, Brazil

This study the treatment of chlamydia, a sexually-transmitted disease that can result in sterility, in public and private health care settings. There is little data in Brazil’s most modern state, São Paulo, on the number of women with chlamydia, since Brazil’s Ministry of Health does not require health facilities and professionals to report cases. Information for this study was collected through hynecological examinations and interviews with doctors and patients. It was found that irrespective of health facility, public or private, many women with chlamydia are victimized for their disease, simultaneously subject to shame and blame.

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Academic and Popular Stereotypes about Street Youth in Brazil: A Study of Working Children on Paulista Avenue

This study addresses the popular stereotypes surrounding street youth in Brazil, comparing these to the reality of their everyday lives. Data were collected through interviews with children working on street corners surrounding Paulista Avenue. Brazilian society marginalizes its street youth, labeling them uneducated, familyless delinquents. It was found that the street workers in this study are educated, from large lower-class families, and are pressured to work on the street and return earnings to their families.

Policing Drugs in São Paulo, Brazil

This is a study of policing drugs at the state and municipal levels in São Paulo, Brazil. The research was conducted through observing and interviewing at two narcotics units in São Paulo state’s Civil Police DENARC. It was found that São Paulo’s complex drug enforcement bureaucracy includes competing national- and state-level police units and organizations and such international organizations as the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the South African police. Observations focused on the daily work of narcotics officers and operatives, discovering their images of the "other," budgetary constraints, relations with informants, and the technology (e.g., disguises, arms, information collection) that structure their work.

Shades of Worth: Perceptions of Race and Self in Brazil

This exploratory study examines perceptions of race and self among poor female black youth in São Paulo, Brazil. Its methodology included interviewing ten poor female Black youth in a slum community center. None of the youth identified with being black, even though all of them were by U.S. definitions of racial descent. In examining photographs of people with different facial complexions, social class ‘markers,’ and physical structures (e.g., hair, lips, eyes, and bone formation), the youth found men of women of darkest complexion and features as "most ugly." The data suggest the perceived undesirability of being black in Brazil, a finding increasingly supported by ‘Brazilianist’ and Brazilian research on race in South America’s blackest country and largest democracy.

São Paulo' Ouvidoria da Polícia,

A Study of a Human Rights Organization

Cronin, Karena '99

Major: Sociology/Political Science

Advisor: Martha Huggins

   This is an exploratory study of the Ouvidoria da Polícia do Estado de São Paulo--a São Paulo state organization which monitors police violence and corruption in Brazil's biggest city.  This study's thesis is that despite the Ouvidoria's success at recording investigations of police violence, several factors hinder the organization's ability to most effectively combat police misconduct.

   This research was conducted over a five-week period in São Paulo, Brazil through observations and interviews at the Ouvidoria da Polícia.  The data were supplemented by archival research at the University of  São Paulo's Núcleo de Estudo da Violência--a human rights group with extensive statistical documentation on police violence in Brazil.

   My findings revealed internal and external constraints on the Ouvidoria's ability to effectively address police violence.  One internal constraint was the method of documentation, which failed to record important social categories of victims: individual's gender, class, education, profession, or sexual orientation.  This information is necessary for understanding who utilizes the Ouvidoria, as well as who is the subject of police violence in São Paulo.  An external constraint is the location of the Ouvidoria da Polícia: Inside the Secretary of Public Security Building where the Military Police have administrative offices.  This environment is not conducive citizen's giving complaints against the police.  Another external constraint is the long-standing impunity of Brazilian police: The justice system's failure to prosecute police for crimes.  Impunity hinders the Ouvidoria's ability to promote police accountability while perpetuating police violence in Brazil.

   This study proposes that in order to increase the effectiveness of the Ouvidoria there must be changes in the organization, location, facility, and method of documentation.  There must also be an attack on police impunity, requiring structural changes in Brazil's justice system and pressure on police officials to properly investigate crimes of the police.

Sickness and Neglect: The Common Illnesses of the Favelados and the Problems They Encounter at the Clinic

Sanchez, Michelle '00

Major: Biology/Sociology

Advisor: Martha Huggins

   This is a study of a health clinic for the poor (Posto e Saúde) in São Paulo, Brazil.  This study proposes first that socio-economic factors cause most poor people's illnesses and second that poor people's health problems are enhanced by neglect at the Posto e Saúde.

   This study was conducted in São Paulo's wealthy Morumbi district Posto de Saúde, which is in a slum (favela) situated within the wealthy district.  This health clinic serves primarily two favelas: "Real Parque" and "Panorama."  The data were collected over six weeks through interviews, observations, and existing statistical data.

   The primary findings are that unhealthy living conditions in favelas--raw sewage, mold, cold, cardboard and wood crate houses without floors --cause many of the favelados' illnesses, including, in particular, "verminoses" (worms) and upper respiratory infections.  These and other health problems are complicated by conditions at the Posto de Saúde: waiting for hours in a waiting room where  cold air constantly blows in, dirt  is swept by janitors as patients wait, floor washing and waxing during working hours, insufficient medical staff  (making it hard to get an appointment and/or requiring hours of waiting), and  the Posto's location next to a garbage dump.  All of these factors can complicate existing illnesses and make it difficult for people seeking help at a Posto de Saúde.

   This study proposes that one way of reforming health care for Brazil's urban poor is--in addition, to improving housing and nutrition for the poor--establishing community centers to educate favelados about ways to prevent illnesses and improve their nutritional habits.  One way of reforming the health care system would be to establish health service equity, where decent medical assistance is offered to everyone regardless of socio-economic standing.

Discrimination in Medical Treatment Depending Upon One's Economic Class, São Paulo, Brazil

 Shah, Sonali '00

Major: Biology/Sociology

Advisor: Martha Huggins

   This is an exploratory study of the treatment of patients of various economic levels in hospitals of São Paulo, Brazil.  My thesis is that there is differential treatment between "rich" and "poor" in Brazil's medical system.

 Methodology included interviewing doctors, administrators, nurses, and patients in four São Paulo hospitals: upper class, middle class, and two primarily for the poor.  I also observed hospital conditions, medical technology, and hospital operations, with an eye to how these affect patients of different social classes.

   My primary finding was that poor patients are only accepted into public hospitals, not private ones; to be eligible they have to have a reference from a doctor.  Therefore, if patients are sick, their primary source has to be a local doctor, whom they must pay before they can get into a hospital.  Even then, most poor patients are not admitted to the hospital; they get treated quickly in the emergency room and leave.  If they are admitted to the hospital, they only stay for one or two days.  Even after relatively major cardiovascular surgery, they are sent home quickly.  In contrast, private patients in a private hospital can stay for five to six days for comparable surgery.

   Hospitals for the poor do not have sufficient and modern medical laboratory equipment for accomplishing accurate and fast lab analyses.  One hospital for the poor does not have a sterilization machine for cleaning smaller equipment like pipettes and test tubes.  This puts poor patients at risk of contamination.  In the private hospital, the laboratories have such modern equipment as laser identifiers for detecting viruses and bacteria; private pay patients receive most lab reports within a few minutes; poor people can wait weeks.

   My study uncovers class differences in hospital services in São Paulo.  These can be seen in hospital architecture, in the number of beds per patient and in treatment facilities, and in number of personnel.  The poor are disadvantaged in health care relative to middle class and richer people in São Paulo.

The Question of Race in Brazil

Warren, Monét '00

Major: Sociology/Modern Languages (Spanish)

Advisor: Martha Huggins

   This exploratory study examines racial perceptions among poor youth in São Paulo, Brazil.  It's methodology includes interviewing ten poor youth in a community center in an urban slum in São Paulo's Morumbi district.  Questions were asked of eight black and two white youth regarding beauty, intelligence, and wealth in conjunction with viewing a chart consisting of pictures of men and women of different colors--from black to white.  The objective was to see whether poor youth link certain positive or negative characteristics to  skin color.  The youth were also asked to draw themselves.  Pictures were taken to compare their self-depiction with a photograph.

   Only one black youth identified himself as being black, even though all of the non-white youth are black by U.S. definitions of racial descent.  The other non-white youth identified as being a shade in between black and white.  All of the youth, whether black or white, thought that the picture of the blackest male was "most ugly."  Nine of the youth--seven black, two white--thought that the blackest woman was "most ugly."  All of the black females thought that the white woman was "most stupid." 

   Of the eight black youth, only two drew themselves realistically, portraying their facial color close to its actual shade.

   The data suggest the perceived undesirability of being black in Brazil.  Blacks were seen by interviewees as "ugly" and "chato" (troublesome; unlikeable).  The interviewees avoided identifying with this group.  It was interesting that so many interviewees identified the whitest woman in the picture as "most stupid." Perhaps this suggests images about blonds in Brazil.

An Examination of Police Dog Training

at the Military Police K-9 Unit in São Paulo, Brazil

Wright, Rebecca Newkirk '98

Major: Modern Languages (Spanish)/Arts

Advisor: Martha Huggins

   The objective of this study was to examine canine training at the São Paulo Military Police K-9 Unit.  Conducted over a five-week period through interviews with canine trainers, police personnel, the unit veterinarian, and observation of obedience, field and attack training, the primary finding is that it could not be determined that the São Paulo military police explicitly trained dogs to use violence, although there is evidence of police dog violence against suspects in São Paulo.

   The study describes factors that are involved in police dog training, including an explanation of the training process and its purposes, the desirable characteristics in a police dog, and a psychological analysis of what Brazilians call "intelligence" in a dog and how it is thought to affect the dog's success in policing.