Impactos do racismo em trajetórias acadêmicas: uma análise reflexiva sobre o sofrimento psíquico de mulheres negras estudantes de Psicologia

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the intersections between gendered racism and psychological suffering in the academic trajectory of Black women students in Psychology. Starting from the understanding that psychological suffering cannot be reduced to an individual or pathologizing perspective, the research adopts an intersectional and decolonial approach to analyze how structural racism, combined with sexism, produces profound subjective and symbolic effects on Black women in the university context. The methodology used was qualitative, exploratory, and bibliographic research, also employing the method of cartography, which enabled the researcher to act as a sensitive observer and to locate discourse, challenging the supposed neutrality and universality of academia, which is, in fact, white, male, and socially privileged. The theoretical framework was built upon the works of authors such as Neusa Santos Souza, Grada Kilomba, Sueli Carneiro, Audre Lorde, Frantz Fanon, Carla Akotirene, and Cida Bento, among others who reflect on subjectivity, psychological suffering, racism, gender, intersectionality, and Black epistemologies. The analysis was structured around three main objectives: to investigate the effects of racism on the academic path of Black women students in Psychology and its relation to psychological suffering; to understand the construction of the image of the Black woman in Brazil and the effects of these stereotypes on the Brazilian social imaginary; and to analyze the strategies of resistance to racism and necropolitics employed by Black women in academia, as well as the institutional responsibilities involved. The main findings reveal that the psychological suffering experienced by Black women in academia is not limited to clinical indicators but manifests through existential anguish, attempts to assimilate into whiteness, silencing, feelings of inadequacy, and academic dropout. These effects stem from symbolic and institutional violence, such as epistemicide, institutional racism, compulsory representation, and the exclusion of Black epistemologies from academic curricula. On the other hand, the study also highlights resistance strategies developed by these women, such as aquilombamento (community-based resistance), the political organization of rage, the collective construction of dororidade (shared pain and solidarity), and the struggle for an intersectional feminism rooted in spaces led by Black women. The study concludes that there is an urgent need to rethink Psychology from an anti-racist and decolonial perspective, one that recognizes Black subjectivities as legitimate and resists the pathologization of responses to oppression. Higher education institutions, the Federal Council of Psychology, and the State, through public policies, must assume responsibility for the structural transformation of Psychology training, promoting curriculum reform, retention and support initiatives for Black women, and the recognition of Black epistemologies as integral to psychological science. This research aims to contribute to the construction of a Psychology committed to structural change, one that acknowledges psychological suffering as an expression of oppression and is prepared to listen to, support, and empower Black women in their academic and professional journeys.