Trajetórias acadêmicas de jovens gays e negros na educação superior

Abstract

This research aimed to analyze the academic trajectories of young students based on the meanings constructed about being gay and black in higher education. The experiences of young gay and black people in Brazil are marked by the action of historically constructed systems of oppression, which act on their bodies, behaviors, and identities. From their educational trajectories, various discourses, often stereotypical, about “being gay” and “being black” are internalized and integrated into their identity perceptions. Throughout life, these meanings are tensioned based on significant experiences, with a strong affective charge, which provide subjects with the emergence of new meanings related to their identities. Considering the university as a border space, conducive to transformative experiences, this study is based on the premise that insertion in higher education enables semiotic self-regulation and identity repositioning. A single case study was carried out through a narrative interview with a young self-declared gay and black student at the International University of Afro-Brazilian Lusophony Integration (UNILAB), located in São Francisco do Conde - BA. The data constructed in the field were analyzed under the lens of Cultural Semiotic Psychology (Valsiner, 2012; Marsico & Tateo, 2017). The results show that the experiences at the university that promote the self-regulation of these identity categories are related to the sense of institutional belonging, the development of critical thinking about identity and the possibility of creating narratives about oneself, envisioning new possibilities beyond those imposed by the oppression systems.