LEAVING BEHIND THE NARCISSISTIC PACT

A REFRAME OF WHITE RACIAL IDENTITY IN FLORIANÓPOLIS/SC

Abstract

Studying white racial identity is a necessity in the pursuit of dismantling structural racism in the Brazilian society. The objective of this qualitative exploratory study is to understand the perception of people who self-declare as white about the influence of racial condition in the construction of their identity. Four men aged 40-52 years old from a private education background who self-declared as white were interviewed. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed under a meaning interpretation paradigm. The urban space revealed to be sundered by racial issues both in the positions of greater economic power and in the geographical distribution of the city, perpetuating “necropolitics” in the terms of Achille Mbembe. Yet, it was possible to identify micro-revolutions in which white people reframed their whiteness and sought to break through the existing narcissistic pact, enabling the researchers to reflect upon the concept of narcissistic birth.