Becoming the Black body: How (dis)comfort within affective atmospheres drives empowerment practices in Brazilian Black activism

Abstract

Our study examines affective atmospheres within a racialized digital enclave in Brazil. By tracing the flow of (dis)comfort within the collective’s affective atmosphere, we highlight how emotional misalignments permeate the discursive structure of this sociopolitical space, focusing on how the racialized self is formed through racialized acts. Using Foucauldian Discourse Analysis (FDA), we reveal a discursive formation where value construction influences the understanding of the racialized self. Discursive rules emphasize identification and mutual support, demonstrating how moral bonds and ethical conduct anchor engagement and self-constitution within an established morality, where (dis)comfort drives the formation of the collective body. This study contributes to affective becomings literature by exploring how Black women’s positions are socially negotiated through interrelations of body, affect, space, and normativity. Additionally, we show how (dis)comfort, as it emanates from affective atmospheres, operates in the emotional transformations that drive Black women towards legitimacy.