Raciality, trajectories, and subjectivity: Sociological portraits in graduate education
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1590/1980531412504Keywords:
Postgraduate, Raciality, Institutional Racism, Sociological PortraitAbstract
This article investigates how raciality shapes the experiences of Black students in graduate programs in Education, examining the tension between merit and belonging. The study adopts the sociological portrait approach, involving three participants selected from a previous survey and narrative interviews conducted between 2022 and 2023. The findings reveal three distinct ways of inhabiting the academic field – hyperadaptation, docility, and rupture –, all shaped by symbolic violence, ethical-political suffering, and conditional inclusion. The study concludes that meritocracy operates as a regulatory fiction that obscures racial hierarchies and that democratizing graduate education requires epistemological, ethical, and institutional shifts.
Downloads
References
Agamben, G. (2002). Homo sacer: O poder soberano e a vida nua I (H. Burigo, Trad.). Editora UFMG.
Ahmed, S. (2012). On being included: Racism and diversity in institutional life. Duke University Press.
Bourdieu, P. (1974). A economia das trocas simbólicas (S. Miceli, S. de A. Prado, S. Miceli & W. C. Vieira, Trads.). Perspectiva.
Bourdieu, P. (Ed.). (1993). La misère du monde. Éditions du Seuil.
Bourdieu, P. (1996). O senso prático. Vozes.
Bourdieu, P. (2001). Meditações pascalianas. Bertrand Brasil.
Carneiro, S. (2005). A construção do outro como não-ser como fundamento do ser [Tese de doutorado, Universidade de São Paulo]. Repositório da Produção USP. https://repositorio.usp.br/item/001465832
Dye, T. R. (2013). Understanding public policy (14th ed.). Pearson.
Fanon, F. (1952). Peau noire, masques blancs. Éditions du Seuil.
Hallett, T., & Ventresca, M. (2006). Inhabited institutions: Social interactions and organizational forms in Gouldner’s Patterns of Industrial Bureaucracy. Theory and Society, 35, 213-236. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11186-006-9003-z
Lahire, B. (2002). Portraits sociologiques: Dispositions et variations individuelles. Nathan.
Lahire, B. (2017). L’interprétation sociologique des rêves. La Découverte.
Lawrence, T. B., Suddaby, R., & Leca, B. (2011). Institutional work: Refocusing institutional studies of organization. Journal of Management Inquiry, 20(1), 52-58. https://doi.org/10.1177/1056492610387222
Lei n. 12.711, de 29 de agosto de 2012. (2012). Dispõe sobre o ingresso nas universidades federais e nas instituições federais de ensino técnico de nível médio e dá outras providências. Brasília, DF. https://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_ato2011-2014/2012/lei/l12711.htm
Lei n. 14.723, de 13 de novembro de 2023. (2023). Altera a Lei n. 12.711, de 29 de agosto de 2012, para dispor sobre o programa especial para o acesso às instituições federais de educação superior e de ensino técnico de nível médio de estudantes pretos, pardos, indígenas e quilombolas e de pessoas com deficiência, bem como daqueles que tenham cursado integralmente o ensino médio ou fundamental em escola pública. Brasília, DF. https://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_ato2023-2026/2023/lei/l14723.htm
Martins, J. de S. (2008). A sociabilidade do homem simples: Cotidiano e história na modernidade anômala. Contexto.
Mills, C. W. (1997). The racial contract. Cornell University Press.
Moten, F., & Harney, S. (2013). The undercommons: Fugitive planning & black study. Minor Compositions.
Portaria n. 545, de 16 de junho de 2020. (2020). Revoga a Portaria Normativa MEC n. 13, de 11 de maio de 2016. Diário Oficial da União, (115), Seção 1, p. 33, Brasília, DF. https://www.in.gov.br/web/dou/-/portaria-n-545-de-16-de-junho-de-2020-262147914
Portaria Normativa n. 13, de 11 de maio de 2016. (2016). Dispõe sobre a indução de Ações Afirmativas na Pós-Graduação, e dá outras providências. Diário Oficial da União, (90), Seção 1, p. 47, Brasília, DF. https://abmes.org.br/arquivos/legislacoes/Portaria-normativa-mec-013-2016-05-11.pdf
Quijano, A. (2000). Colonialidad del poder, eurocentrismo y América Latina. In E. Lander (Ed.), La colonialidad del saber: Eurocentrismo y ciencias sociales. Perspectivas latinoamericanas (pp. 201-246). Clacso.
Sawaia, B. (Org.). (1999). As artimanhas da exclusão: Análise psicossocial e ética da desigualdade social. Vozes.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Alexsandro do Nascimento Santos
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish in this journal agree to the following terms:
a. Authors retain the copyright and grant the journal the right to first publication, with the paper simultaneously licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution license that allows the sharing of the paper with acknowledgment of authorship and initial publication in this journal.
b. Authors are authorized to assume additional contracts separately, for non-exclusive distribution of the version of the paper published in this journal (for example publishing in institutional repository or as a book chapter), with acknowledgment of authorship and initial publication in this journal.
c. Authors are allowed and encouraged to publish and distribute their paper on-line (for example in institutional repositories or on their personal page) at any moment before or during the editorial process, as this can generate productive changes, as well as increase the impact and citation of the published paper (See The Effect of Open Access).
