Between stigmas and traumas of violence of colonization and slavery

affirmation of afro descent identity

Abstract

Our paper aims to analyze the social dynamics of the construction and affirmation of African identity and Afro descent the face of stigmas and traumas of violence caused by the long historical process of dehumanization, the slavery. Has the African enslaved collectively and/or individually been forgotten or emptied of its African origin in the face of the atrocities of the oppressor in the dynamics of domination? And how did he cause a certain "amnesia" in his or her mind about the meaning of his or her being, a human being (NOBLES, 1984)However, it is noted that there is a change in the perception or belief of Africanity in various circumstances of time and place according to the mechanisms used throughout the history of slavery and colonization. This altered sense of awareness of whether or not to be African descending may be a serious and complex problem in self-assertion. And it can be analyzed within its complexity influenced, generally, by the hostile contexts characterized by the stigmas and traumas caused by the violence of the slavery. This complex and searching search for "being African or not being" (NOBLES, 1984, 1998), which we have developed in this research on Afro-Descendant's identity affirmation process, also pervades the complexities of racial ethnic relations in Brazilian society (PIERSON, (1999). Finally, our text intends to examine and question the different means used in the construction and representation of Afro-descendant identity through life experiences, experiences and discourses. In order to achieve the goals of our paper, we used field and bibliographic research methods to identify Afro-Brazilian experiences as a case study, respecting the particularity of collective and/or individual historical trajectories in different times and places. We use other authors as theoretical references, among others Erving Goffman, (1988, 1989); William Dubois, (1903, 1905), Kwame Nkrumah (1963, 1970); Franz Fanon (1952, 1961); Michel Foucault, (1966, 1971), Achille Mbembe (2001, 2014).