CONTEMPORARY FORMS OF RACISM AS A SOCIO-HISTORICAL CONSTRUCT. INITIAL APPROACHES TO THEIR STUDY

Abstract

In this article, I explore the historical and contemporary trajectories of the existence of races, the emergence of racism, and the process of racialization as socially constructed categories. I argue that the concept of human races is not biological, but rather a historical and political construct used to justify exploitation, control, and discrimination, especially in the context of the colonization of the Americas. It is noted that racism was initially associated with religion but later solidified as a scientific argument that became an economic and social tool justifying the enslavement of Africans and the domination of Indigenous peoples, based on their supposed racial inferiority. In the formation of nations, the superiority of white races was legitimized through pseudo-scientific arguments. This racism structured social hierarchies in the West, generating inequalities that persist to this day, reflected in the racialization of poverty, crime, and urban spaces. Finally, the text highlights how society continues to categorize and discriminate against people based on physical traits, creating prejudices and stereotypes. These social constructs of race continue to perpetuate inequalities and limit equitable access to fundamental rights, especially in contexts such as the Colombian South Pacific, where Afro-descendant communities face complex forms of racial discrimination that intersect with other forms of oppression, such as sexism, machismo, classism, xenophobia, and homophobia.