Dr. Elizabeth Hordge-Freeman will present her book, The Color Of Love, which reveals the power of racial hierarchies to infiltrate our most intimate relationships. Delving far deeper than previous sociologists have into the Black Brazilian experience, Elizabeth Hordge-Freeman examines the relationship between racialization and the emotional life of a family. Based on interviews and a sixteen-month ethnography of ten working-class Brazilian families in Bahia, her presentation reveals the connection between proximity to whiteness (skin color, hair texture, and facial features) and the distribution of affection within families. She will end her talk by discussing the synergy between the #VidasNegrasImportam movement in Brazil and the #BlackLivesMatter movement in the United States.

Prof. Hordge Freeman’s talk fits in nicely with the Black History Month theme: “Black Families, Representation, Identity, Inclusion, Diversity and Histories.” 

For more information, please contact Professor Jack Draper at draperj@missouri.edu.