As Elites de Cor: Thales de Azevedo e o Projeto UNESCO de Relações Raciais no Brasil

The article addresses anthropologist Thales de Azevedo’s participation in the early 1950s cycle of research on race relations in Brazil sponsored by UNESCO, particularly the studies behind his book As Elites de Cor: um estudo de ascensao social. In Azevedo’s book, the process of modernization, challenges to tradition, and the dynamics of social mobility in Bahia society are framed as potential triggers of racial conflict. This perspective stands in contrast with the positive view of alleged harmonious racial coexistence that the author voices in these same pages. After first examining Azevedo’s shift from social scientist of social medicine to anthropology, the article explores the context in which he conducted his study and analyses As Elites de Cor. While it is often held that the aim of the UNESCO race relations project was to show that Brazil represented a kind of racial paradise, Azevedo’s socio- -anthropological study made it clear that, right from the outset of the research, the international agency was interested in probing Brazil’s social and racial inequalities. UNESCO faced the important challenge of investigating the social mobility dynamics concerning persons of color in order to elucidate racial asymmetries.