Mesmo campo, diferentes cores de pele: a performance da raça, do colorismo e do racismo antinegro no futebol brasileiro

This article investigates how processes of racialization and the ideology of colorism operate in the footballgames played in the city of São Paulo between teams of Black Brazilians against teams of White Brazilians from1927 to1939, and in a 2003 match recorded by the documentary Preto contra branco. It builds on interpretations by authors who studied the news articles about those matches, arguingthat thegames embody political narratives that counteract the ideology of colorism. They also invoke a racial division similar to the one drop rule in the United States and subversively reenacted it, which destabilizes the myth of racial democracy in Brazil. In defiance of a colorist discourse that at once favors limited national integration and reinforces racial hierarchy, those games represent a critique against racism and the myth of racial harmony. They also contest Gilberto Freyre’s reductive notion that Afro-Brazilians practice footballas an “arte de songamonga.”

KEYWORDS:Racial Democracy; Race; Gilberto Freyre, Brazilian Football; Colorism.