A colonialidade no contexto universitário: as implicações do racismo na subjetividade dos estudantes negros do curso de Medicina da UFMA Campus São Luís – MA

Abstract

Discursive knowledge reproduces a colonial logic that uses race as an instrument of domination and exploitation, sustained by a supposed idea of civilization/modernization. This hegemonic order legitimizes racial and social inequalities and represses cultural and intellectual productions that do not correspond to the normalized and standardized white ideal. In this context, the racial apparatus acts strategically in the production of racialized subjects as inferior. Historically, spaces of intellectual production, and therefore discursive spaces, such as the academic environment, have been dominated by whiteness in denial of Black perspectives. Although the Black presence in universities has increased in recent years, both due to the pursuit of new knowledge and social ascension, this does not eliminate racist violence, since institutions still perpetuate dynamics that privilege certain groups to the detriment of others. Therefore, this dissertation investigates how racism stemming from the historical-structural configurations of coloniality and its effects permeate the subjectivity of Black students in undergraduate courses at public universities. This study aims to analyze how racism stemming from the historical-structural configurations of coloniality and its effects permeate the subjectivity of Black undergraduate students. The study is linked to the Culture, Education, and Technology research line of the Postgraduate Program in Culture and Society (PGCult), highlighting its interdisciplinary nature by promoting the articulation between the fields of psychology, education, race relations, and decolonial theories. It is a basic, exploratory, qualitative research study, using the technical procedure of field research at the Federal University of Maranhão, with bibliographic, documentary, and field procedures. A Life History interview was conducted with two Black students from the Medicine course at the São Luís Campus, focusing on what is recounted by the individual in their unique narrative, seeking to explore how the historical-structural racial influence affects the subjectivity of these students according to their own accounts, what they felt and thought in the scenarios described. The data were read and interpreted using Critical Discourse Analysis. The results demonstrate that the students' journey was marked by inequalities and that entry into the medical course revealed an elitist environment, based on a white standardization that generates a sense of non-belonging. Situations of racism and curricular gaps on racial issues were identified throughout the course, resulting in significant psychological impacts, such as burnout syndrome and feelings of inadequacy and insufficiency. It is concluded that undergraduate studies are a period traversed by violence and inequalities stemming from the historical and social context of racial relations in Brazil, and that admission through affirmative action does not dismantle the mechanism of exclusion within it, which demands a critical review of the institutional organization and training curricula.