"Diploma of Whiteness is more than a history of Brazilian education. It provides a brilliant lesson that in order to analyze critically any educational system (and/or structure), knowledge of its past can be illuminating. Similarly, this text can elucidate how and why race remains a hidden force to be reckoned with in societies that are not only multiethnic/cultural, but are, in fact, fundamentally multiracial. Finally, this study of social reforms proves that the real measure of policy effectiveness should be sought in the lives of people: the human face of change and social equality." - Francis Musa Boakari , Comparative Education Review
"Diploma of Whiteness should be read by anyone interested in Brazilian race-relations or history, and Latin America more generally. This book, additionally, makes a wonderful contribution to a better understanding of race relations in Brazil in the 21st century." - José de Arimatéia da Cruz , The Latin Americanist
"[A] superb history of Brazilian racial ideas and the implementation of those ideas in the educational system of Rio de Janeiro in the first half of the twentieth century. . . . Diploma of Whiteness should be essential reading for modern scholars of Latin America." - Michael Monteón , History: Reviews of New Books
"[A]n essential book. . . . Dávila's book is a well-researched and valuable contribution to an enhanced understanding of this formative period in modern Brazilian cultural history." - Andrew J. Kirkendall, Luso-Brazilian Review
"An illuminating contribution. . . . Diploma of Whiteness will be of special interest to those who study education, race, citizenship, and state building. It will make a fine addition to the books that are appropriate for upper-level undergraduate and graduate seminars on Brazilian and Latin American history." - Peter M. Beattie , The Americas
"[S]uperb. . . . [T]he book deserves credit for enriching the debate on race relations in Brazil. . . . [H]ighly recommended to specialists and students alike." - Silke Hensel, Iberoamericana
"[T]he reader is captivated by the many similarities between the Brazilian experience and that of the United States. . . . This book is important if we are to avoid repeating history-especially since the history of Brazil's educational system is not very different from our own." - Myrka A. González , Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education
"A noteworthy book precisely because it strives to tackle the thorny set of methodological, analytical, and political issues that have clouded an assessment of the historic relationship between race and social policy in Brazil." - Seth Garfield , American Historical Review
"A timely work for current debates about affirmative action policies in Brazil, this study describes the long history of issues related to race, racism, and class in Brazil's education system. . . . Diploma of Whiteness is an interesting and clearly written book, appropriate for both graduate and undergraduate courses on Brazil and Latin America." - Sarah Sarzynski , Hispanic American Historical Review
"Dávila has achieved an important and laudable goal: his book is very well documented, presenting new archival data." - Antonio Sérgio Alfredo Guimarães , Journal of Latin American Studies
"Dávila writes well and makes his case forcefully. . . . Stimulating." - Richard Graham , Ethnic and Racial Studies
"Dávila's exhaustively researched analysis is an excellent example of the study of micro-institutions" - Rebecca Reichmann , Anthropology & Education Quarterly
"This detailed study of educational policy and the history of the inclusiveness of the school system in Rio de Janeiro is an excellent analysis of how a racist elite agenda was perpetuated through apparently progressive social policies in early twentieth-century Rio de Janeiro." - Elizabeth A. Kuznesof , Journal of Interdisciplinary History
"This extensively documented study will present new dimensions to the well-known studies of race by Dávila’s mentor, Thomas Skidmore, and will enhance the importance of
education and the educational pioneers whose visions of the ‘Brazilian Man of the Future’ structured racial and social policy during the first half of the twentieth century." - Nancy Priscilla Naro , Bulletin of Latin American Research
“A superbly researched analysis of the application of the whitening ideal, with all its contradictions, in the Rio de Janeiro schools during the interwar years.” - Thomas Skidmore, author of Black into White: Race and Nationality in Brazilian Thought
“By taking an innovative approach to the study of race and social policy, Jerry Dávila has written a rare book that shows how racial attitudes move from elite discourse into the real lives of real people. This approach combines with fascinating research and a narrative style that is compelling and often dramatic to make a first-rate contribution to the fields of Latin American and Brazilian history.” - Jeffrey Lesser, author of Negotiating National Identity: Immigrants, Minorities, and the Struggle for Ethnicity in Brazil
