On the Problem of Racial Stress – Some Reflections on the Novel O avesso da pele by Jeferson Tenório
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35699/2317-2096.2025.56429Keywords:
Racial stress, O avesso da pele, black identityAbstract
This essay reflects on the problem of racial stress. As a starting point for this reflection, we will analyze scenes of racial stress in the novel O avesso da pele (The Other Side of the Skin) by Jeferson Tenório, as well as reflections on the impact of racism on subjectivity from the perspective of black brazilian social thought – specifically, the work of Black female intellectuals such as Neusa Santos Souza, Cida Bento, Beatriz Nascimento, Virgínia Leone Bicudo, and Lélia Gonzalez. Racial stress represents a form of imprisonment for the black body, a confinement in modes of socialization that dehumanizes it and strips away its possibilities for freedom. Racial stress places Black subjects in a constant state of non-existence, that is, the erasure of their identity. Drawing from the intellectual tradition of Frantz Fanon and Frank B. Wilderson III, this essay aligns with a perspective of Black psychoanalysis and Afropessimism to examine the consequences of racial violence on black subjectivity.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Wanderson Barbosa dos Santos (Autor)
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