Who is pardo in Amazonas?

Ethno-racial profile and identities of Amazonian pardos

Abstract

This article discusses the pardo category and its association with Indigenous ancestry and/or phenotype, focusing on the Manaus region. It aims to contribute to studies on the pardo population by expanding the understanding of identification dynamics within this category. The method follows a quantitative and descriptive approach, based on a survey conducted with a sample of 223 residents of Greater Manaus, using an electronic form created in Google Forms and administered by the researchers through smartphones. The findings indicate that different data collection methods yield varying proportions of racial identities, particularly concerning the pardo, Black, and Indigenous categories. Divergences were observed between Indigenous perception and self-perception in relation to self-identification as pardo. The results show that most pardos in the region identify as people of Indigenous origin, corroborating the hypotheses that pardo self-identification in Manaus is associated with Indigenous descent and that most pardos there are socially perceived as Indigenous. The findings partially explain the observed pattern that not all pardos identify as Black.