Migration and Interracial Marriage in Contemporary Brazil

Chinyere Osuji, University of California, Los Angeles

Migration from a person’s community of origin can facilitate the formation of behavior outside of the social norm, including interracial marriage. In Brazil, despite race mixture being part of the national myth of origin, interracial marriages are the minority of marital unions (Petruccelli 2001; Ribeiro and Silva 2009; Silva 1987; Telles 2004). Drawing on the 2009 Brazilian National Household Survey (PNAD), I examine whether internal migration facilitates interracial unions. I find that while internal migration predicts being in a cross-color marital union, the effects differ depending on the color combination of the partners.