Dimensão psíquica da questão do racismo: relações raciais entre empregadas domésticas negras e empregadoras/es brancas/os

Abstract

The legacy of slavery and the persistence of structural racism are deeply rooted in Brazilian racial relations, with women being particularly affected. The labor of enslaved Black women within the intimate spaces of the slave-owning patriarchal households established a dynamic that interwove labor exploitation with a supposed relationship of affection and submission. This contributed to the perception of Black women as integral members of the family in the landowning classes. This study aims to investigate the psychic dimension of the issue of racism in the experience of Black women who work or have worked as domestic workers and/or nannies for white families, using a psychoanalytic theoretical framework. As a research tool, this study employed the Narrative Interview in Free Association. The collected data highlighted aspects of the relationship between the space designated for wet nurses and that assigned to domestic workers. Ideologically structured social representations that permeate the experience of Black women emerge in racial relations between Black domestic workers and white employers, revealing the dynamics of racial tensions in the private sphere. In this condition, the body of Black women is subjected to the violence of the ideal of whiteness, being positioned as the "Other." Domestic work performed by Black women of low income for middle and upper-class women not only perpetuates inequalities but also involves ambiguities in affective logics. The marks inscribed by affection and dedication in the care of children by Black nannies reveal an environment permeated by symbolic abuses and violence, exacerbated by the absence of boundaries regarding adequate working conditions and low wages. Psychic marks from the impacts of racism are not confined to the concrete situations of experienced discrimination but become evident from the earliest childhood, in crucial moments of psychic formation. The seemingly paradigmatic dynamic between Black domestic workers and white employers proved to be conflict-ridden, permeated by violence, humiliations, and punishments.