Moving for Love: Interracial Marriage and Migration in Brazil

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Review of “Moving for Love: Interracial Marriage and Migration in Brazil”

submitted to Social Sciences

 

The paper consists of a solid analysis of the relationship between interracial marriages and migration patterns in Brazil. It is based on thorough literature review, draws on representative data obtained in a nation-wide survey, and carries out advanced multivariate statistical analyses (regression models) that pinpoint the links between interracial marriages and migration. Consequently, the paper constitutes an important contribution to scholarship which I wish seeing published as soon as possible. However, there are some minor issues that the authors should address before being published, that I will mention below.

1.     Page 2, lines 78-94: The two paragraphs repeat what had been said earlier. They should be either thoroughly rewritten or simply deleted, for avoiding textual redundancy.

2.     Page 2, line 99: The authors refer to “US colonies.” I believe that the term may be anachronic and therefore inadequate, because the text refers to the situation prior to the formation of the United States.

3.     Page 3, line 109: Similarly, the authors discuss about “US-style anti-miscegenation laws.” Whas the United States a legal entity when these laws were created? If not, please be careful not to use anachronistic terms.

4.     Page 4, lines 184-186: “On the other hand, they were highly desired by white women, who found them so “virile 184 and strong that they did not like those with more delicate mannerisms (Azevedo 1955: 84) 185 [my translation].” This sentence should be, perhaps, indicated as a stereotype rather than left as a description.

5.     Page 4, line 196: “given the given popular.” Language proofing is needed here and also in other places of the manuscript.

6.     Page 6, Data and Sample: “This study draws on household data from the 2009 Brazilian National Household 291 Survey (PNAD), a dataset that is collected by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and 292 Statistics (IBGE) every year.” The data are solid and trustworthy. However, why not using a more recent dataset? Please explain why the author(s) chose the 2009 data, which may be outdated if newer data is available.

 

Thank you for the opportunity to review this paper. I wish the authors good luck in revising the manuscript.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

The language is good and fluent. Some minor issues do exist, however.

Author Response

I appreciate the thoughtful commentary of this reviewer and thank you for the opportunity to revise this piece to make it more legible.

I have rewritten several areas of the paper such as removing anachronisms where appropriate, referring to British North America instead of the United States. In addition, I added new sentences pointing out how the 2009 PNAD includes large numbers of Brazilians alive during the migrations of the 1950s and 60s. This is a concern given the much shorter life span of Brazilians born in the first half of the 20^th century. More recent PNADs have much smaller numbers of this elderly sample, so I analyzed a slightly older data set.

 

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Overall, the paper is well thought out and written.  The paper offers a very valuable perspective, migration, what plays a role in interracial marriage. 

 

I find that the first section in Conclusion offers strong discussion which is kind of missing in the Discussion section.  I suggest move line 604-655 in Conclusion to discussion.

 

Conclusion line 604-605: …three major ways of understanding interracial marriage…: but in the same sentence 4 ways are listed.  Please check.

 

Line 609 not a sentence.

Author Response

Thank you for your hard work! My responses are in bold.

I find that the first section in Conclusion offers strong discussion which is kind of missing in the Discussion section.  I suggest move line 604-655 in Conclusion to discussion.

I have moved relevant parts and rewritten both sections.

Conclusion line 604-605: …three major ways of understanding interracial marriage…: but in the same sentence 4 ways are listed.  Please check.

I have rewritten that sentence, among others.

 

Line 609 not a sentence.

 

I have rewritten this part of the text.