MEANINGS ATTRIBUTED BY BLACK WOMEN IN INTERRACIAL RELATIONSHIPS: INTERSECTIONS BETWEEN RACISM AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Abstract

We aimed to understand the meanings produced at the intersections between racism and domestic violence in black women in the context of interracial marriage or stable union with white men. A qualitative epistemological study was carried out with the participation of two women named here under the pseudonyms Julia (43-year-old black woman) and Marta (44-year-old mixed-race woman), both cisgender and heterosexual. Semi-directed online interviews were conducted, video-recorded and later transcribed in full. The interviews were analyzed in light of Gender and Race theories and Socio-historical Psychology based on historical-dialectical materialism. The domestic violence experienced was linked to racist stereotypes, used as devices to legitimize this violence and, mainly, related to the hypersexualization and objectification of black women. The experiences of psychological and moral violence were specific to the logic of Brazilian racism, which is more difficult to recognize because it is expressed in a veiled manner.