What is it about?
Data reveals that in 2017 in Brazil, there were 63,698 reported cases of hate speech on the internet, with one-third of these being related to racist discourses. Additionally, another study reveals that 81 per cent of the victims of racism on Facebook in Brazil are upwardly-mobile Black women. These racist discourses are often conveyed through disparagement humour, which offers the abusers the convenient excuse that their comments are simply harmless jests made for entertainment purposes. Consequently, this qualitative study develops a critical discourse analysis of a selection of Facebook posts, aiming to understand their embedded meaning.
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Why is it important?
This study's findings suggest, first, that racist disparagement humour discourses are employed to challenge Black women’s upward social mobility and disqualify their achievements. Secondly, these discourses reinforce deep-seated ideologies regarding differentiated symbolic social spaces for Blacks and whites in Brazilian society. Finally, that social media platforms represent the contemporary arena for the manifestation, instantaneous dissemination and reinforcement of racist ideologies in Brazil.
Perspectives
This study contributes to the understanding that the intersectionality of gender, class and race continues to play a relevant role in the dynamics of Brazilian racial discourse and, consequently, amplifies their lived experiences of social exclusion.
Dr Luiz Valerio P. Trindade
IPIE - International Panel on the Information Environment
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Disparagement humour and gendered racism on social media in Brazil, Ethnic and Racial Studies, November 2019, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/01419870.2019.1689278.
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