THE LOGIC OF EXCEPTION AND THE GAZE UPON BLACK WOMEN: AESTHETIC AND EPISTEMIC RACISM AND POWER RELATIONS

Abstract

Racism in Brazil manifests itself through explicit and subtle mechanisms that produce social, symbolic, and epistemological inequalities, particularly affecting the experiences of Black women. This article aims to analyze how the logic of exception, aesthetic racism, and epistemic racism shape the social experiences of Brazilian Black women, especially in the fields of education, affective relationships, and social recognition. This is a qualitative, exploratory, and interpretative study based on bibliographic review and critical autobiographical narrative, articulating contributions from Black feminism, decolonial studies, and anti-racist education. The study reveals that the social acceptance of Black women often is conditionally granted, linked to phenotype, educational background, racialized aesthetic standards, and interracial relationships, configuring contemporary mechanisms for maintaining racial inequalities. The findings demonstrate that racism operates not only through direct exclusion but also through selective processes of tolerance and recognition that legitimize certain Black trajectories while rendering others invisible. It is concluded that the logic of exception constitutes a strategy for reproducing structural racism, reinforcing racial, aesthetic, and epistemological hierarchies, highlighting the need to strengthen anti-racist educational practices and recognize Black women as subjects of knowledge and social transformation.