Abstract
Black people in a racist and discriminating society, specifically the quilombola population, undergo an identity (re)construction process which certainly includes cultural, historical, territorial and kinship issues. This study verified the perception of quilombo dwellers regarding the racial discrimination they go through. A qualitative, descriptive, exploratory research was conducted with six residents in leadership positions in an urban quilombo: two teenage girls, two adults in their fourties and two older women. They answered a semistructured interview about their life stories and their perception of racial discrimination. The data were recorded, filmed, and later transcripted. Afterwards, they were analyzed according to Thematic Content Analysis. The main results pointed out significant differences in the way teenagers perceive racial discrimination compared to adults and older adults. These claimed not having been through situations in which they were discriminated because of their color or for living in a quilombo. On the other hand, the teenagers reported having gone through bullying at school and public places, like malls and retail places in general. The older women said they felt discriminated because of their age, but never because of their color or the place where they live. It is assumed that these big differences in perception are mainly due to the higher educational level of teenagers and, consequently, to their higher reflection ability. This ability enables them to perceive for themselves facts and realities that their familiar group never mentioned and that debates at school have always hidden from them.
Key Words:
Vulnerability; Racial Discrimination; Blackness; Quilombos