Humanitas Institute promotes course on racial issues in the formation of Brazil

The Humanitas Institute for Integrated Studies promotes a free course on racial issues. It discusses racist practices, their relevance and the effect of understanding racial issues in contemporary Brazil, which are the result of social patterns and dilemmas from past times. The purpose of The racial issue in the formation of Brazilian society: colonization, racism and anti-racism in Florestan Fernandes and Lélia Gonzalez is to analyze the themes of racial inequalities and their connection with the social construction of the country. The course will only take place on the 29th, at 4pm, remotely via the YouTube platform.
The discussion encourages the public to reflect on the topic, based on the thoughts and studies of sociologist Florestan Fernandes and sociologist and activist of racial and feminist movements Lélia Gonzalez. The focus is on the approach to Florestan's ideas regarding societal standards, related to racial inequalities that develop in Brazilian modernity. Furthermore, it focuses on Lélia's criticisms of the model of colonization that occurred in the country and its consequences in the constitution of different forms of racism, in the construction of racial identities and anti-racist practices.
The meeting will be taught by the specialist in sociology from the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco (UFRPE) Aristeu Portela Júnior. He emphasizes the importance of the authors chosen in the investigation, highlighting their actions in contributing thoughts that go beyond analyzes of race relations, including the issue of feminism, as seen with Lélia Gonzalez. Aristeu states that the author's activity helped in understanding how situations occur that harm black society, “violence that affects the black population, in particular black women, to act politically, whether in social movements, whether in their writings, in intellectual terms, whether in institutional policy to combat these inequalities, whether to combat this violence”, he explains.
Aristeu will also present the concept of the myth of racial democracy in Brazil, bringing together thoughts from Fernandes and Gonzalez on how the idea prevents the recognition of racist attitudes. The sociologist explains that Florestan Fernandes was responsible for theoretical and methodological innovations in the sphere of racial issues. “Whether it is the characterization of the idea of ​​racial democracy as a myth, or the delimitation of what he called the Brazilian racial dilemma”. The principle of this myth is old, but it is still important, in addition to being implemented in the Brazilian black movement. The concept is also no longer seen in the line of denunciation, “but as a conceptual reference for understanding lines of interpretation of the racial issue in Brazil”, as Aristeu reveals.
As for the Brazilian racial dilemma, the course speaker explains that it originates from the identification of a pattern of development in society in which there is no overcoming of social inequalities arising from a previous period in Brazil. These are “patterns of behavior inherited from the slavery period, which will always place the black population in this unequal position of access to goods, access to wealth, access to social status and so on”, he concludes.
The course is aimed at all students, teachers and external audiences who are interested. To confirm participation, registrations are made via Sigaa and will be open until the 29th, which is also the date of the course, which will be broadcast on YouTube.
via Agecom