“AQUELA PRETA ERA EU”: Representações sobre mulheres negras em matérias dos sites ContilNet Notícias e G1 Acre

Abstract

The study aims to verify how journalism addresses issues of race and gender in texts about black women in Acre. To do so, the websites ContilNet Notícias and G1 Acre will be studied, using the content analysis method (BARDIN, 2016 [1977]). In terms of specific objectives, it seeks to: 1) explain how journalism constructs and reproduces representations articulating issues of race and gender that affect black women; 2) discuss how racism manifests itself in the lives of black women and how the aesthetic dimension presents itself as a field of racial conflicts; and 3) investigate the representations built on black women in 12 journalistic texts published on the websites ContilNet Notícias between the years 2015 and 2018. The theoretical contribution of the work consists of discussions proposed by black feminism, from Carneiro (2011 [2000; 2002]; 2011, online; 2020 [1985; 2002; 2003]), Gonzalez (2020 [1979; 1982; 1983]), Bueno (2020), Collins (2019) e hooks (2019a, 2019b, 2019c). In dialogue with the authors, the discussion about representations and journalism is anchored in the studies of Hall (1997; 2016) and Borges (2012). Regarding the racial discussion centered on Brazil, contributions from Nascimento (2003), Nascimento (2016 [1978]), Munanga (2009 [1988]), Daflon (2017) and Souza (2019 [1983]) are studied. Finally, Moraes (2015) and Silva (2014)’s theoretical elaborations are the core to the reflections about potentialities and possibilities of journalism. For the analysis, four thematic categories were elaborated (hair issues, body issues, racist insults and racism) and two subtopics intended for discussions about journalistic aspects (“The place of black women in the articles” and “The problematization in journalistic texts”) to from which it is possible to perceive that the texts centralize black women in their content, however, these subjects occupy almost exclusively the place of popular sources, that is, it is not common in the analyzed journalistic texts black women to be heard outside the place of “characters”. The analysis also shows that the texts promote little problematization of the subjects represented, which can contribute to the alienation of the public, since journalism has a normative character of social life. The research points to a scenario in which journalism needs to take a step that has not yet been implemented in Brazil: admit that racism influences its conformation and, from that, build effective policies to confront the system of domination.