The psychological sequelae of slavery, the superegoic enjoyment, and its return in culture

Abstract

The present study starts from the assumption of the psychic sequels of slavery to explain its generational transmission, which happens via the Other’s discourse and comes to us through the parental couple. Our individual memories, the result of social memory, are composed of narratives steeped in the black myth, at the core of which are the remnants of slavery. In the subject’s psychic life, the negation of the black trait can occur due to his interpretation of what is admirable in our culture: the whiteness. The study was conducted through a literature review and analysis of cases reported in the media. The sequelae are: personal inferiority, color discrimination, community division, and leadership. The memories manipulated for the maintenance of the privileges of whiteness corroborate the denial of the trait, since the person is alienated by the Other’s discourse. The black trait can be perceived as unpleasant and projected as hostile into the culture. causes the hostility to be directed, also, to the very subject that holds the black trait. This is a fertile ground for superegoic acting and its unbridled enjoyment, manifesting itself in acts, words, or support for the destruction of blackness.