
Dispositif of Raciality
The Construction of the Other as Non-Being
Sueli Carneiro(Author)
Polity Press
1st Edition
Will be published approx. on 4. September 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
372 pages
978-1-5095-6459-0 (ISBN)
Description
This book by the leading political thinker and philosopher Sueli Carneiro examines how race operates in Brazilian society and why myths of racial democracy have so much staying power in the country despite the many ideological and cultural shifts. To understand this, Carneiro develops Foucault's concepts of biopower and dispositif and links them with Charles Mills' writings on the racial contract, creating the concept of 'dispositif of raciality'. Carneiro argues that the dispositif of raciality operates through, on the one hand, 'epistemicide', the process through which Black people are invalidated as knowing subjects, and, on the other, through a complicity among white people in relation to the social subordination and elimination of Black people.
As with all dispositives, however, the dispositif of raciality possesses its own resistance, and Carneiro also addresses Black resistance, understood through the voices and testimonies of insurgents against subordination and epistemicide. Their words reveal that it is from the strength of self-esteem, the recognition of their own autonomy and the triumph of memory and collective action that the sap of resistance is extracted. It is only through collective struggle, where the care of self and of others becomes emancipatory, that the dispositif of raciality can be confronted.
Hailed as one of the most important works of political philosophy written in Brazil, this book sheds new light on the mechanisms through racial regimes reproduce themselves amd how these patterns might be broken. It will be of great value to students and scholars of Brazil, Latin America and Black Studies and it will appeal to anyone interested in questions of race, racism and the legacies of colonialism.
As with all dispositives, however, the dispositif of raciality possesses its own resistance, and Carneiro also addresses Black resistance, understood through the voices and testimonies of insurgents against subordination and epistemicide. Their words reveal that it is from the strength of self-esteem, the recognition of their own autonomy and the triumph of memory and collective action that the sap of resistance is extracted. It is only through collective struggle, where the care of self and of others becomes emancipatory, that the dispositif of raciality can be confronted.
Hailed as one of the most important works of political philosophy written in Brazil, this book sheds new light on the mechanisms through racial regimes reproduce themselves amd how these patterns might be broken. It will be of great value to students and scholars of Brazil, Latin America and Black Studies and it will appeal to anyone interested in questions of race, racism and the legacies of colonialism.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
ISBN-13
978-1-5095-6459-0 (9781509564590)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Book
approx. 09/2026
1st Edition
Polity Press
€74.50
Not yet published
Persons
Sueli Carneiro is founder and director of the Geldes Instituto da Mulher Negra, Brazil
Content
Foreword - Christen Smith
Translator's note
Prologue: Emancipation For All
Introduction: Being and Other
Part I: Power, Knowledge, and Subjectification
Chapter 1.1: On the Apparatus
Chapter 1.2: Biopower: Blackness Under the Sign of Death
Chapter 1.3: Epistemicide
Chapter 1.4: Prohibitions
Part II: Resistances
Part II Prologue
Chapter 2.1: Edson Cardoso
Chapter 2.2: Sonia Maria Pereira Nascimento
Chapter 2.3: Fatima Oliveira
Chapter 2.4 Arnaldo Xavier, the poet (in memoriam)
Part III: Education and Care of the Self
Part III Prologue
Chapter 3.1 Education: Negation and Affirmation
Chapter 3.2: Education and Care for the Self
Flowchart: Functional Articulations among Knowledge, Resistance and Race
Postface - Yara Frateschi
Notes
Index
Translator's note
Prologue: Emancipation For All
Introduction: Being and Other
Part I: Power, Knowledge, and Subjectification
Chapter 1.1: On the Apparatus
Chapter 1.2: Biopower: Blackness Under the Sign of Death
Chapter 1.3: Epistemicide
Chapter 1.4: Prohibitions
Part II: Resistances
Part II Prologue
Chapter 2.1: Edson Cardoso
Chapter 2.2: Sonia Maria Pereira Nascimento
Chapter 2.3: Fatima Oliveira
Chapter 2.4 Arnaldo Xavier, the poet (in memoriam)
Part III: Education and Care of the Self
Part III Prologue
Chapter 3.1 Education: Negation and Affirmation
Chapter 3.2: Education and Care for the Self
Flowchart: Functional Articulations among Knowledge, Resistance and Race
Postface - Yara Frateschi
Notes
Index