Racismo Recreativo (Recreational Racism), by Adilson Moreira, now available for pre-order

This is the second title from the Coleção Feminismos Plurais (Plural Feminisms Collection), coordinated by Djamila Ribeiro, to be published by Grupo Editorial Record (Record Publishing Group)

Djamila Ribeiro continues the new phase of the Coleção Feminismos Plurais as Rosa dos Tempos releases a revised and expanded edition of Racismo Recreativo, by award-winning author Adilson Moreira.

Now available for pre-order, the book is scheduled for release on September 21. Originally published in 2019, it examines how expressions presented as humor can serve as a vehicle for reproducing racial stereotypes and hierarchies.

The publication is part of an editorial transition that began this year, when the Coleção Feminismos Plurais moved to Grupo Editorial Record through its Rosa dos Tempos imprint. Djamila Ribeiro inaugurated this new phase in June with a new edition of Lugar de Fala (Place of Speech).

Created in 2017, the collection brings together books addressing issues such as racism, feminism, incarceration and cultural appropriation, with the aim of expanding access to intellectual work by Black authors through accessible language.

Racism Is No Joke

In Racismo Recreativo, legal scholar Adilson Moreira examines the relationship between discrimination and expressions presented as entertainment, jokes or harmless fun.

For Moreira, framing such representations as humor does not erase their political dimension, since they can reinforce assumptions about the positions certain groups are expected to occupy in society.

In a 2018 interview with CartaCapital, shortly before the first edition of the book was released, Moreira defined the concept at the heart of his analysis:

“Recreational racism refers to a cultural policy that uses humor to express hostility toward racial minorities.”

His analysis also extends to social media and other media outlets. In a text reproduced in the introduction to the new edition, law researcher Brenno Tardelli summarizes the scope of the discussion:

“The book sets out to examine humor as a policy of hostility toward racial minorities, whether on social media or in other media outlets, while also addressing the Brazilian judiciary’s position on the issue.”

The debate developed by Adilson Moreira also appears in Djamila’s own work. In Pequeno Manual Antirracista (Little Antiracist Handbook), the author draws on the concept of recreational racism when discussing the culture consumed in Brazil and the persistence of Black characters constructed through stereotypes.

Her reflection places television programs, soap operas and other cultural productions within a broader problem: when certain images are repeatedly used as a source of humor, they also help shape social perceptions of who can be portrayed as beautiful, intelligent, respectable or worthy of occupying certain spaces.

From Concept to Law

In the seven years between the first edition and the current one, the concept has also gained ground within Brazil’s legal system. In 2023, Law 14,532 amended the Racial Crime Law to increase penalties by one-third to one-half when offenses are committed in a context or with the intent of “relaxation, entertainment or recreation.” The law’s official summary explicitly refers to penalties for recreational racism.

The Conselho Nacional de Justiça (National Council of Justice), in turn, incorporated the issue into its Protocolo para Julgamento com Perspectiva Racial (Protocol for Judging with a Racial Perspective). The document includes a section specifically devoted to recreational racism, cites Adilson Moreira’s work and instructs judges to consider the effects of jokes and other seemingly harmless expressions in reproducing racial stigma.

The protocol emphasizes that these practices should not be understood solely as individual behavior, but within the broader relations of inequality present in society.

The new edition also follows another milestone in Moreira’s career. In 2025, the legal scholar won the Prêmio Jabuti (Jabuti Prize) in the Education category for Letramento racial: uma proposta de reconstrução da democracia brasileira (Racial Literacy: A Proposal for Rebuilding Brazilian Democracy), published by Contracorrente.

Read the interview Adilson Moreira gave to Brenno Tardelli in 2018, on the occasion of the release of the first edition of Racismo Recreativo: https://www.cartacapital.com.br/justica/adilson-moreira-o-humor-racista-e-um-tipo-de-discurso-de-odio/

Translated by AI