For a blackened self: the crossroads of mental health, capitalism and racism

Abstract

This paper investigates the construction of black subjectivity in Brazil, using the contributions of Neusa Santos Souza and other authors to understand the interrelationships between racism, coloniality and capitalism. Based on the premise that “you're not born black, you become black”, they look at the impact of whiteness as a normative ideal that shapes desires and subjectivities, structuring an oppressive system that affects both the body and the psyche. It is argued that the ideal of the “white self” is imposed on black people as an identity goal, perpetuating symbolic and material inequalities. In this context, the act of “becoming black” is presented as a practice of resistance and identity affirmation, encompassing processes of decolonization of the body and the word. This process, central to mental health, challenges the colonial meanings attributed to blackness, while at the same time promoting the construction of new meanings and spaces of autonomy. In addition, the study addresses the intersections between racism and capitalism, highlighting how racial technologies sustain economic exploitation and reinforce structures of domination. Through a critical analysis of black subjectivity, this work highlights the urgency of anti-racist practices in the field of social psychology and in training institutions. The re-signification of the term “black” and the appropriation of discourse about oneself are emphasized as strategies for subjective and collective transformation, promoting an affirmative and empowering vision of blackness as a political and clinical act.