"Combinaram de nos matar, mas nós combinamos de estudar" :trajetória de vida de homens negros em ascensão educacional rumo a “ser alguém na vida”

Abstract

This thesis investigates the life trajectories of Black men who entered higher education in the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte between 2004 and 2024. Based on biographical interviews conducted with 15 participants, the study seeks to understand how social, economic, territorial, and subjective factors influence their educational and mobility paths. The analysis of the narratives reveals that access to university results from a combination of public policies, family and community support networks, impactful school experiences, and identity constructions shaped by race, class, gender, and sexuality. Although schooling appears as an important instrument of transformation and recognition, it does not eliminate the barriers imposed by structural racism and inherited inequalities. The interviewees' experiences show that education can serve as a form of protection and affirmation, especially for those facing multiple forms of subalternization. By articulating different dimensions of Black male experiences, the thesis offers an original contribution to the field of educational inequalities, placing the voices of the subjects at the center and highlighting education as a space of symbolic dispute and potential social reconfiguration.