THERE IS NO WHITENESS: A STUDY ON THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE CONCEPTS OF WHITENESS AND NEGATION.

• Grant number: 25/00402-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2025
• End date: November 30, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Interdisciplinary Subjects
• Principal Investigator: Leonardo Cardoso Portela Câmara
• Grantee: Ivo Gabriel Belucci de Freitas
• Host Institution: Centro de Educação e Ciências Humanas (CECH). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Whiteness, defined as a structure of power and white racial identity, relates to the psychoanalytic concept of denial as a defense mechanism used to sustain racist practices. Whiteness operates through the exclusion of the other and the concealment of its privileges, while denial, according to Freud, is a psychic mechanism that allows unconscious content to emerge under the condition of being denied. In Brazil, Lélia Gonzalez highlights denial as the foundation of structural racism by demonstrating how Brazilian culture erases African contributions and reinforces the universality of whiteness.This study aims to investigate the relationship between the concepts of denial, drawing on theoretical contributions from psychoanalysis and sociology, to understand how the defense mechanism of denial, through the suspension of repression, contributes to the construction of white racial identity and the maintenance of its privileges in Brazilian society. To this end, an analysis of psychoanalytic and sociological works will be conducted, following Garcia-Roza's (1991) theoretical research model in psychoanalysis.