Blurring Social Boundaries?: Experiences of Black-White Unions in Rio De Janeiro and Los Angeles

Chinyere Osuji, University of California, Los Angeles

For my dissertation, I compare the experiences of black-white couples in Brazil with those of black-white couples in the United States. Through analyzing interview data from interracial couples in both societies, I find that the personal meanings that couples give to their relationships are linked to national racial ideologies of color-blindness in the U.S. and racial democracy in Brazil. By incorporating racialized, gendered, and classed components to my analysis, I shed light on the processes shaping interracial union formation as well as the differences and similarities in these two "marriage markets."