Book excerpt: First Published in 1994. In nearly all racially and ethnically heterogeneous societies, there is overt national conflict among parties and social movements organized on the basis of race and ethnicity. Such conflict has been much less evident in Latin America. Scholars have pondered the nature of race and ethnicity with regard to both Afro- American and Indo-American societies, though research on Brazil has been particularly prominent. Special attention has been given to the relationship between social class and race and ethnicity.