Black community inhabitants’ Social representations

Abstract

This study intended to acknowledge the social representations of black community inhabitants about their own community, located in the north of Bahia. Twenty members of Tijuaçu’s black community took part in it, both men and women. The age range was from 12 to 41 years old. In order to do so, a Completing Phrases List was used, containing eleven incomplete phrases, focusing on the following themes: the place, the inhabitants, the supposed way others see it, the women, the men, the elders, the young, the children, being a black community inhabitant, the blackness, the future. The phrases were analyzed theme by theme, had being grouped according to the meaning similarity. The results indicated that through oral tradition, a historical commitment toward black community resistance has been established. They also indicated that the elder ones are responsible for spreading and maintaining the more ancient and stable representations, on which new knowledge is based. The results emerged the understanding that the black community inhabitant faces life adverse conditions assuming a double task (individual and collective): both assuring his own survival (concerning his family too) and strengthening black community fight against prejudice and discrimination. The results also suggested new research possibilities on researching and reflections about diversity within black population.