The Anti-Racist Turn in the Struggles Against Violence in Brazil

Brazil is one of the most violent countries in the world. Facing different forms of violence, social movements denounce, protest and propose ways to understand the frames of violence and modifies them. This paper focuses on anti-racist turn in social struggles against violence, conducted by black and youth social movements, family members of victims of violence, but also incorporated by a part of the sociological and legal literature. This study points to changes in interpretations of the phenomena of violence and social control - in particular, homicides and incarceration – where the racial approach emerges progressively in articulation with the class approach. The methodology is based on two strategies: a) review of recent literature; b) case analysis of great social mobilization against violence, using interviews with human rights activists, public officials, as well as press material. The anti-racist turn means a change in classic terms of sociological interpretation, combining the racial dimension with the class analysis. It points to the inclusion of new bibliographies in Brazilian studies, intensifying the theoretical South-South dialogue and dialogue with black American intellectuals. Points also to the connection of Brazilian social movements with international anti-racist movements and the critique of punishment.