AQUILOMBAMENTO CLINIC:

TRAINING, RACIALIZATION, AND ANTI-RACIST LISTENING

Abstract

The present work aims to reflect on the practice of two clinical psychologists, considering their training and praxis, questioning the idea of neutrality based on the rupture with the colonial and universal framework in which whiteness is invisibly structured to maintain hierarchy and oppression in relationships, which continues to shape psychology in Brazil. In this context, we highlight the importance of racialization of psychologists, using the quilombo metaphor proposed by Abdias Nascimento, addressing how raciality intersects in the subjectivation of both psychologist and patient. We consider scenarios such as a Black psychologist listening to Black men and a White psychologist listening to Black people, taking into account intersectionality, to create new possibilities for anti-racist clinical practice. Racism continues to cause illness, intense suffering, and deaths. Therefore, a critical look at the epistemological foundations that constitute Brazilian psychology, especially clinical psychology, is necessary. We believe in the importance of “aquilombamento” so that we can establish an ethical commitment toward an anti-racist clinic that combats racism and all forms of oppression against historically excluded populations, instead of being a place that reproduces violence.