Os intelectuais públicos negros e o processo de democratização da política brasileira (1985-2012)
Abstract
This research aims to analyze the role of black public intellectuals in the process of
democratization in Brazil. In more specific terms, we will seek to respond to the following
objectives: a) map and analyze the main political positions of black brazilian intellectuals in the
debates on three political moments: National Constituent Assembly; law 10,639/2003 and
affirmative actions for higher education; b) based on these positions, analyze what were the
meanings of democracy conferred by them; c) analyze the meaning and consequences of the
institutionalization of the racial relations agenda for the country's democratization process; d)
analyze the public role of these intellectuals in the light of contemporary conceptions of black
intellectuality. In methodological terms, we used Content Analysis to interpret the data
collected through bibliographic research and semi-structured interviews. In addition, we rely
on theoretical contributions from Cultural and Post-Colonial Studies. Briefly, the profile of the
black public intellectual can be defined as one who argues that there is an intrinsic relationship
between theory and politics. From this assumption, they engage politically in public spaces with
the aim of fighting for the full insertion of black people in the democratic system, guaranteeing
their basic rights as citizens. We could notice that the contribution of these intellectuals to the
Brazilian democratization process took place, in general, in two aspects: 1) the first concerns
political intervention in public spaces, by participating in and organizing demonstrations and/or
being part of government positions; or even by occupying universities, creating research groups
and strengthening public policies of racial equality within these spaces; 2) the second concerns
the construction of an awareness of the role of blacks in Brazilian social formation. In this
second point, by proposing another epistemological and ontological perspective, these
intellectuals expanded the meaning of democracy. In this interpretation, the collective becomes
an intrinsic value to democratic thinking and social movements become primary actors in the
construction and maintenance of a substantially egalitarian society. Here, culture and aesthetics,
in addition to socioeconomic issues, are seen as important political tools, therefore, becoming
necessary when dealing with civil rights. In their methodologies, these intellectuals go beyond
national borders, bringing a diasporic perspective to the analysis. Thus, they provide us with
another sociological interpretation of Brazil, having as one of the central elements the criticism
of the racialization process and the inequalities resulting from it. Thus, in general, they defend
the proposition of a democracy that does not face difference in a hierarchical way.
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