The hated other within: racism and ontological (in)security in Brazilian foreign policy discourses

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30612/rmufgd.v12i24.16746

Keywords:

Race and Racism, Brazilian Foreign Policy, Ontological Security

Abstract

Through deeper dialogues between Brazilian foreign policy (BFP) and post-structuralist analytical lenses (primarily inspired by Lacanian psychoanalysis) and post-colonial perspectives, as well as considering the gap surrounding race and racism issues in BFP studies, this work seeks to position the racial question, especially the myth of racial democracy, as the true foundation of readings of Brazilian identity, as well as the calculations of preferences and interests of its elites. Understanding “foreign policy” as a discursive practice of border construction, the concept of ontological (in)security is central in this article. Deprived of citizenship status, black and indigenous populations have been (and are) excluded from the identity narratives that define who and for whom Brazil is, so that the stability of Brazilian identity necessarily foresees ontological insecurity (and all the violence that accompanies it) for a large part of the population inhabiting its territory. At the same time, it is necessary to interrogate the conditions of possibility that allow, in an ambiguous manner, for discourses of Foreign Policy that assert exactly the opposite, giving centrality to the black and indigenous racial component in the (inter)national identity of the country, masking the mass incarceration and genocide to which these populations are subjected.

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Author Biography

Camila Amorim Jardim, Instituto de Relações Internacionais PUC-Rio

Doutoranda em Relações Internacionais pelo IRI PUC-Rio

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Published

2024-08-19

How to Cite

Amorim Jardim, C. (2024). The hated other within: racism and ontological (in)security in Brazilian foreign policy discourses. Monções: UFGD Journal of International Relations, 12(24), 166–195. https://doi.org/10.30612/rmufgd.v12i24.16746

Issue

Section

Artigos Dossiê - Dossiê "Racismos e Antirracismos nas/para as Relações Internacionais”