The Socialization of Black Folks: Affective Capital and Embodied Labor in Diasporic Families

• In Event: 220 - Regular Session. Social Psychology 2

Abstract

Previous studies of racial socialization examine families of color and focus on both the content of racial messages and transmission of cultural practices. Expanding on this research to engage a transnational approach, this paper explores how ‘racialized’ labor is learned and performed as part of racial socialization in black Diasporic families. This research relies on auto-ethnographic research in the U.S. along with qualitative data collected over a sixteen-month period with Afro-Brazilian families in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil to analyze how emotional and embodied labor are central elements of racial socialization in black Diasporic families. The analysis suggests the use of such labor can be a strategy that simultaneously resists and accommodates white supremacy. Beyond discussing examples of racialized labor, the article compels researchers to consider how racialized labor impacts emotional well-being and shapes one’s access to what the author describes as “affective capital.”

Author

• Elizabeth Hordge-Freeman, University of South Florida