O “TORNAR-SE NEGRO(A)”: construções identitárias de negros(as) no Maranhão

Abstract

The objective of this work is to understand the process of construction and affirmation of the identity of blacks (a) of Maranhão. I sought to relate the construction of identity with the contexts of primary and secondary socializations, and also with the broader context of dynamics and disputes over a way of being and defining the social world, mobilizing as theoretical frameworks the relational sociological perspective and postcolonial studies. Through a trajectory study, as a methodological resource, I present the experiences, experiences and practices of five black people who work or worked in black movements from the 1970s in Maranhão. The analysis of the trajectories highlights the perceptions about being black, the interpretative knowledge about their own history, the social place they occupy and how they relate to the legitimizing discourses of an ethnic-racial difference transformed into inequality.