Interpretations of the portrayals of african-descendents in mass media

The aim of this study is to identify Afro-Brazilians' interpretations of their portrayals in mass media, to understand their feelings concerning these interpretations and the strategies they use to deal with these images. The article makes use of the 'established-outsiders' framework to analyze the phenomena. A qualitative methodology was used to collect and analyze the data. More specifically, thirty-seven Brazilians of Afro-descendant were interviewed using in-depth interviews. The main results of the study indicate that the participants understand that Afro-descendants portrayals in the media reflect the racism that exists in Brazilian society. The images are permeated by social stigmas, the indicators of which are the low proportion of the portrayals of African-descendants in comparison to their proportion in the composition of the population and the depiction of roles that are socially devalued. The main strategy used to deal with these images is the deconstruction of the communication content of what they say they see, non- identification and non- aspiration. The interviewees revealed that they feel aggrieved by these images.