Training psychologists in the State of Piauí - discussing Brazil’s racial questions

Abstract

Abstract Objective The aim of this discussion was to present how racial issues are treated with in some higher education courses in Psychology in the state of Piauí, Brazil. Method Our methodology involved qualitative analysis of the texts of the institutional curricular documents of these programs. We discussed the implications arising from the racial theme from a historical perspective, from the end of the 19th century to the end of the 20th century, a period in which psychology was debating the Brazilian racial issue, as it was developing as an independent science, a situation in which the influence of other sciences, such as medicine, allowed psychological knowledge to be used to validate theories that were intended to defend scientific racism. Results The results of the analysis showed that the issue of race is not explicitly addressed in these courses. Conclusion Our conclusions indicate that we still need to overcome the challenge of understanding racism as a serious problem whose consequences affect society as a whole and that the discussion of these curricular absences is irrefutably relevant for the training of psychologists in a state like Piauí where 76.5% of the population is made up of Brazilians of African descent.