DISPARAGEMENT HUMOUR AND GENDERED RACISM

ON SOCIAL MEDIA IN BRAZIL

Luiz Valério P. Trindade
PhD in Sociology (University of Southampton, UK)

ABSTRACT

Data reveals that in 2017 in Brazil, there were 63,698 reported cases of hate speech on the internet, with one-third of these being
related to racist discourses. Another study reveals that 81 per cent of the victims of racism on Facebook in Brazil are upwardly
mobile black women. These discourses are often conveyed through disparagement humour, which offers the abusers the
convenient excuse that their comments are simply harmless jests. This study develops a critical discourse analysis of a selection
of Facebook posts, aiming to understand their embedded messages. The findings suggest, first, that racist disparagement humour
is employed to challenge black women's upward social mobility and disqualify their achievements. Secondly, they reinforce deep-
seated ideologies regarding differentiated symbolic social spaces for blacks and whites in Brazil. finally, major social media
platforms represent the contemporary arena for the manifestation , dissemination, and reinforcement of racist ideologies.

INTRODUCTION

In spite of Brazil's enduring racial and class inequalities, a considerable proportion of its black population (women in particular) has
experienced important social improvements over the past decades.
Nevertheless, such accomplishments have not only been ignored by the dominant elite but also disqualified via the construction and
dissemination of racist discourses on major social media platforms, specially concealed in disparagement humour discourses on
major social media platforms.

DISPARAGEMENT HUMOUR

It is defined as humour that disqualifies, belittles, or maligns a person or social group.

It encompasses three social agents: 1) the joker, 2) the subject of mockery, and 3) an audience.
When jokers are challenged, they have the capacity to retreat into the defensive excuse 'I was only joking' (brincadeirinha in
Portuguese).
However, the persistence of disparagement humour discourses against certain social groups can disseminate and reinforce the
naturalization of negative ethnic stereotypes.

BRAZILIAN RACIST HUMOUR

There is a frequent use of diminutive form in order to convey affection or social proximity between the joker and the subject of mockery.
For several decades, successful and long lasting TV comedy shows have contributed to disseminate and reinforcing stereotyped social
representations of black people.
Racialized disparagement humour in Brazil provides people with a convenient way to convey deep-seated racist ideologies without
sounding blatantly racist (i.e.: the paradox of racism without racist).

BLACK BRAZILIANS' SOCIAL SPACE

In Brazil there is no racism because blacks know 'their place' in class society, an old adage says.
It implies that their 'right' place is associated with inferiority, and as long as they remain at the bottom of the social hierarchy, racial
tensions would be non-existent.
Thus, crossing the boundaries of attributed lower social positions is challenging because whilst in everyday social interactions such 'rules'
of belonging might not be explicitly verbalised, on social media they are openly displayed.

MAJOR FINDINGS

The critical discourse analysis of dozens of racialized humour Facebook posts have unveiled three major categories of discourses on
social media against black Brazilian women:
Ridiculing and portraying them as 'trespassers' of white social spaces (i.e. illegitimate occupants of spaces associated with privilege).
Black women characterised as 'perpetrators' in white spaces (i.e. associating blackness and delinquency).
Discourses challenging black women's schooling (i.e. disqualifying their social progress achieved through tertiary education).

SOME RELFECTIONS

The Brazilian elite has an enduring resistance to acknowledge the existence of racism and its social implications, and over time it has
fostered the image of a post-racial society. However, this study contributes to reveal that the picture is considerably different.
Disparagement humour explores and exacerbates perceived differences amongst racial groups in order to highlight negative attributes of
'the other'.
This way, social and racial inequalities are also perpetuated in Brazil and social media platforms represent the contemporary arena for
disseminating such colonial-like values.

THE STUDY IN FULL

This infographic displays only a sample of some of the relevant points discussed in the study, which is recommended
to be read in full in order to have a more accurate and complete understanding of the phenomenon and the reflections raised.
The article has been published in 2019 in Ethnic and Racial Studies.
https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2019.1689278