A criação do imaginário: a pele negra como elemento de distinção sociocultural na cidade da Liberdade (Redenção – CE)

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to understand how black skin color has been interpreted as an element of gradation and sociocultural difference and distinction by the gentiles of the municipality of Redenção, a city in the state of Ceará, considered the first in the history of Brazil to abolish slavery, on January 1, 1883 (1883), more than five (5) years before the Golden Law of May 13, 1883. With this intention in mind, this dissertation was carried out methodologically through the application of questionnaires to the common sense of the gentile population of this city and, comparatively, to relate their arguments to the explorations of expressions and/or opinions of high school students also from this municipality, as it is believed that this allows us to go beyond the simple appearance of the phenomenon in an intersectional search that enables such an interpretation of this issue. This social issue of racial difference began with the start of activities at the University of International Integration of Afro-Brazilian Lusophony (Unilab) and after the arrival of individuals from the African continent to study and work at this IFES. It was noted that melanin is observed by local people as something that first differentiates citizens and that in social ranking it is an element of hierarchy where being black, in turn, the blacker one is, or the more melanin one has in their skin, means a negative historical aspect that afflicts the contemporary context of these “redemptive” (synonym of the abolitionist) subjects.