#whitening

Why Argentina Has Almost Zero Black People Today — The Hidden History They Don’t Teach

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The Whitening of Brazil

Brazil has a long and painful history of slavery that impacted its racial composition. In 1888, the country became the last in the Western Hemisphere to abolish slavery. During the more than 300 years of slavery in the Americas, Brazil was the largest importer of enslaved Africans. According to a UN publication by Edward Telles, Brazil brought in seven times as many as the United States. This massive influx of enslaved Africans resulted in a predominantly Black and mixed-race population by the time of abolition.

From the 1930s until recent years, Brazil promoted the idea of being a “racial democracy.” This concept suggested that racism and racial discrimination were minimal or non-existent in Brazilian society, especially when compared to other multiracial societies like the United States or South Africa. The absence of explicit race-based laws or policies, such as segregation or apartheid, throughout the 20th century reinforced this belief.

However, this ideology masked underlying racial inequalities and discrimination that persisted in Brazilian society. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Brazilian officials actively encouraged European immigration while restricting Chinese and African immigrants. This policy was rooted in the scientific racism of the time, which viewed a non-white population as problematic for the country’s future development.

Blanqueamiento is a social, political, and economic practice used to "improve the race" towards a supposed ideal of whiteness.

Biologically, blanqueamiento could be achieved by marrying a lighter-skinned individual to produce lighter-skinned offspring.

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El Blanqueamiento de Brazil

Brazil tiene una historia de racismo larga y dolorosa, la cual ha impactado su composición racial. En 1888, el país fue el último país del hemisferio occidental en derogar la esclavitud. Durante más de trescientos años de esclavitud en las Americas, Brazil fue el importador más grande de africanos esclavizados. De acuerdo con una publicación realizada por las Naciones Unidas, escrita por Edward Telles, Brazil traía siete veces más que los Estados Unidos. Para el momento que llegó la derogación, esta entrada masiva de africanos esclavizados resultó en una población predominantemente negra o de raza mezclada.

Desde la década de 1930 hasta años recientes, Brazil promovía la idea de ser una “democracia racial”. Este concepto sugería que el racismo y la discriminación racial eran bajos o no existía en la sociedad de Brazil, especialmente comparada con otras sociedades multirraciales como Estados Unidos o Sudáfrica. La falta de leyes o políticas explícitas y basadas en la raza como lo son el apartheid o la segregación racial, hizo que a lo largo de el siglo XX, esta creencia se fortaleciera.

Sin embargo, esta ideología enmascaraba desigualdad y discriminación racial, que persistió en la sociedad brasileña. A finales del siglo XIX y principios del siglo XX, las autoridades brasileñas promovían la inmigración de europeos y restringieron a los inmigrantes africanos y chinos. Esta política estaba basada en el racismo científico de ese entonces, el cual consideraba que una población no blanca sería problemático para el futuro desarrollo del país.

Blanqueamiento es una práctica social, política y económica, utilizada para “mejorar la raza” y para alcanzar la blanquitud ideal.

Not a dumb question at all! It's just very situational.

It's pretty uncommon for bones to only need to be whitened to be fully cleaned. The main example I can think of would be nature cleaned bones. Most of the time if the bones look white or mostly clean with just bit of dirt or dried tissue left on them, they can just be soaked in peroxide for a couple days and that be the only cleaning they need. The peroxide will sanitize the bones and dissolve small bits of dried tissue. Otherwise, it's best to go through the processes of degreasing and whitening to make sure the bones are clean. The spectrum of grease stains in bones is so vast that sometimes it's difficult to tell which process to start with.

For example, between these two images, which one looks like it needs to be degreased and whitened vs which one only needs to be whitened?

Just going off the colors, most people would assume the left doesn't require much to any extra cleaning, and the right still needs to be degreased.

However, the wolf skull on the left was boiled and bleached, and had grease locked into the skull that had to be cleaned. Here's how it looked after a few weeks of degreasing. The grease that was baked into the bone from the heat damage has resurfaced at this point:

The right image is two fox skulls I cleaned for a client. They were both macerated and had already been degreased in a mixture of ammonia and water by the time I took that photo. This is how one looked after a couple days in peroxide:

And here's the same wolf from above before I put it in the peroxide to whiten. The skull is devoid of grease and mostly cleaned, just needed to be sanitized by the peroxide to be considered clean.