La sujeta universal va a la conferencia: dinámicas de blanquitud y políticas para mujeres en Brasil

Abstract

Abstract

This article analyzes the dynamics of whiteness observed in the organization of the State Conference on Women’s Policies, held in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, in 2025. It is based on qualitative research that employs natural participant observation as a methodological strategy. The theoretical discussion articulates the concepts of whiteness, the universal subject, and intersectionality, as well as processes of legal interpretation. The analysis focuses specifically on the universal subject, who in this case is represented by white women – a group to which the author belongs – and who occupies a dual position, as an ethnographer and as a member of the conference’s organizing committee. By examining the legal regulations governing the process – which establish representation quotas, particularly for Black women – and the decisions made by the organizing team, the study seeks to demonstrate the agency of the universal subject, which collectively operated through subtleties and subterfuges to relax the racial quotas. The study concludes with evidence of how the dynamics of whiteness manifest in reality, in this case through unspoken complicity, and the intent and outcome of maintaining privileges for the universal subject, which is supported by the weakness of legal norms due to ambiguities and inconsistencies in their wording.