Light-skinned black woman: whitening and affi rmation of blackness in Brazil

Abstract

This article supports a writing policy that, based on the propositions of authors such as bell hooks and Gloria Anzaldúa, does not operate the separation between life and writing, between personal and political. In this sense, starting from memories that evoke racial issues in different periods of my affirmation as a fair-skinned black woman, this work aims to show aspects about the sociohistorical whitening and genocide processes of the black Brazilian population that go through racial and self-declaration affirmation of blackness in our country. Bringing contributions from the intellectual production of bell hooks and Neusa Souza, I point out the power of the exercise of militancy and writing as anti-racist keys that help us on the path towards deconstructing whiteness and overcoming what Sueli Carneiro pointed as “color pain”.