Corte de ladrão: raça e masculinidade numa barbearia de Camaçari - BA

Abstract

This research presents an ethnographic understanding of how young Black men from the outskirts of the city have related to their hair, given the context of widespread violence that affects this group. To this end, field research was conducted in a barbershop in Camaçari, in the metropolitan region of Salvador-BA. This establishment proved to be a venue for friendly meetings, conversations on various topics of interest, but also violence. In the barbershop, a hair style called “thief’s cut” composes an aesthetic valued among the group. Based on the better-known category “brau”, I situate the particularity of the interlocutors of the research. They stand out for an aesthetic production that values very specific types of clothing, accessories and hair. If, on the one hand, this aesthetic becomes a reason for discrimination, on the other hand, through it, they articulate an anti-racist position. The constant episodes of violence during the fieldwork demonstrate how young Black men live in a challenging context. A murder changed the course of the barbershop, affecting my research and culminating in the closure of their business.