Racismo Institucional e Vivência Universitária: reflexões sobre a saúde mental de estudantes negros e quilombolas em uma universidade pública.

Abstract

Research on mental health in the university environment sometimes disregards social aspects that influence the students? academic experience such as racism, sexism and LGBTphobia. Neglecting these factors prevents university policies of permanence and promotion of mental health from comprising the reality experienced by the many subjects that make up the university. Racism, as a structural phenomenon of the Brazilian society, establishes privileges and disadvantages based on the racial identification of the subjects, and is also reproduced in the institutional sphere. Thus, it impacts the access to non-white people?s material and symbolic resources in different contexts, including the university. Based on this understanding, the main objective of this dissertation is to understand how institutional racism influences permanence and the mental health of black and quilombola students at the university. As specific objectives, it seeks to: a) describe how mental suffering resulting from institutional racism affects the emotional, social and psychological life and the training of black and quilombola students; b) identify coping strategies against institutional racism built by students; c) design strategies that allow the welcoming and solution of discriminatory situations at the university; d) equip the university to fight institutional racism and its effects on the university community?s mental health. This work is part of the Clinical Practices and Mental Health research line of the Professional Graduate Program in Health Psychology at IMS/UFBA and is structured from the production of four products: three articles and the proposition of an extension program that reaffirms the social commitment of the university with the offer of a service that aims to face racial inequalities existing in the institution. The first article, theoretical in nature, aims at reflecting on the impacts of racism on the process of mental suffering in black university students, and uses as reference the studies of black scholars. It discusses how institutional racism organizes relationships in educational institutions, and considers that its identification may give rise to the denaturalization of violence and the breaking of silencing mechanisms. It concludes by stating the relevance of historicizing the achievements of black people. The second article proposes a literature review through the combined use of the keywords: black students, university permanence, university, ethnic-racial relations and quotas on the following platforms: SciElo, LILACS and CAPES Theses and Dissertations Databank. It aims at discussing how institutional racism may influence the permanence of black and quilombola students in the university. Data were organized into two categories: student strategies for permanence in the university and institutional programs for permanence of students, being possible to apprehend formal and informal strategies to confront institutional racism. We could identify the need for developing university policies that consider ethnical-racial aspects in order to fight institutional racism. The third article aims at presenting the results of the research conducted with self-declared black and quilombola students of the Multidisciplinary Institute of Health, Anísio Teixeira Campus, Federal University of Bahia (IMS-CAT/UFBA), in Vitória da Conquista. A qualitative, descriptive study was conducted from August to October 2021, when online workshops were held with students from several courses. The analysis of workshops allowed us to conclude that institutional racism is experienced directly through epistemicide and discrimination due to belonging to the quilombola people, as well as indirectly through limited information about the policy on affirmative actions. We conclude, then, for the need to invest in a permanence program that links financial and psychosocial factors to the coping with institutional racism, involving the entire academic community. Then, as a product resulting from a professional Master's degree, we present the proposal of an institutional welcoming program for black and quilombola students at the university. The scientific and social impact of this research refers to the production of knowledge about the effects of racism on students' mental health, expanding such discussions in the field of psychology, and the possibility of carrying out concrete actions to combat racism in the university space.