Tornar-se Neusa: Raça, memória e subjetividade a partir da trajetória e obra de Neusa Santos Souza

Abstract

This PhD thesis analyzes the current interpretations of the life story and intellectual path of the black psychoanalyst Neusa Santos Souza [1951-2008], emphasizing the significance ascribed to her work Becoming Black: or the vicissitudes of the identity of Black Brazilians on social rise (1983/2021) and its effects on the academic and political fields. Focusing on the field of racial relations studies in Brazil, it attempts, through ethnography, participant observation within events, interviews with diverse actors and analysis of public and private sources in documental archive, to reconstruct the understudied trajectory of Neusa Santos and think over the intersections that derive from the racial and gender demarcations, which prompt different perspectives and readings on her memory and work. In producing an interpretative articulation on the life and work of a Black Brazilian female intellectual, the thesis discusses relevant dimensions of race relations in Brazil and the debates fostered around racism in the present, pointing out its current tensions, disputes and transformations. Incorporating contemporary discussions about the notions of racialization, memory, epistemicide, whiteness and coloniality, the work hopes to contribute to the interplay between the psychological and social fields, underlining the importance of looking at the subjectivity-race interface, based on an understanding of the unconscious capillarity of “race”.