Presença africana e preta nas relações internacionais: os africanos formados pela Universidade da Integração Internacional da Lusofonia Afro-Brasileira (2017-2023)

Abstract

The present research aims to investigate the insertion of the black African descendant subject trained by UNILAB in the area of International Relations. Given that International Relations as an academic field has proven to be racist, selective and elitist, maintaining a predominantly white presence and marginalizing the participation, perspectives and contributions of non-white people. Moreover, racism and exclusion permeate the field of International Relations, both in its practice and in its academia, which has historically intentionally neglected the role of race and colonialism in global affairs, just as it has obscured the role played by the African continent and societies in international relations and in shaping global structures and affairs. In contrast to this reality, UNILAB's International Relations course presents itself as a unique, ambitious and extremely complex project, with a student body composed mostly of black people and of African nationality. This course offers an opportunity for significant insertion of these individuals in the field of International Relations. Thus, the problem that emerges to be answered and that guides this research is: in what way does the International Relations course at the University of International Integration of Afro-Brazilian Lusophony enable the insertion of the African and black subject in the area? The present research is based on the contributions of decolonial and post-colonial theories, which emerge as fundamental theoretical currents to analyze the issues related to race, racism and coloniality in the field of International Relations. Methodologically, this research is qualitative, of basic applied nature, carried out through procedures of bibliographic research and document analysis, and was guided by the descriptive-explanatory and hypothetical-deductive methods. In addition, data from the university portals were collected and analyzed, and interviews were held with some graduates. In concluding this study, it was found that the International Relations course at UNILAB represents a unique reality, as does the institution's project as a whole. Besides offering opportunities for access to free and quality higher education for Africans, the course also adopts an Afrocentric approach. The International Relations course at UNILAB is a space that enables insertion, participation, diversity and the construction of theories in International Relations, as it seeks to insert black people and people of African origin as researchers and professionals in the area, realizing that it is essential that black and African voices make themselves present in international relations in order to reaffirm the prominent place that the African continent has always occupied in International Relations, and no longer accept that it be shaped from the outside in. In this way, UNILAB becomes an opportunity to rewrite the history of a people that had their bodies, culture, and knowledge kidnapped and dispersed around the world due to a forced diaspora. Therefore, UNILAB enables these individuals to assume spaces that were historically denied to them, allowing the reconstruction of their identities and contributions to global society.