A historicidade biológica da cor da pele dos seres humanos

Abstract

Skin color is one of the most notable physical characteristics in individuals, and is often used to create stereotypes of inferiority, reinforcing prejudices and racism. According to the Demographic Census carried out by IBGE, in 2022, considering the race-color aspect, 45.30% of Brazilians declare themselves mixed race and 10.20% declare themselves black. The black population (the sum of browns and blacks) therefore represents 55.50% of Brazilians. Understanding the history and biology of different skin tones, as well as the ancient civilizations that preceded us, is of fundamental importance for breaking paradigms created based on certain phenotypes. Observing the absence of discussion of ethnic-racial relations in Biological Sciences disciplines, the present work aims to discuss the contributions of human evolution studies to the understanding of the biological historicity that explains the skin color of human beings. As a result, an informative booklet was produced on this topic, to scientifically disseminate the content to, mainly, young audiences. In order to collaborate with an anti-racist education perspective, the objective is that such knowledge becomes curricular content in Basic Education schools and Higher Education courses.