Multimodality, discourse and race: Djongador of words

Abstract

Language, more than a structure or mere instrument of communication, is inextricably implicated in/by the social. Based on this premise, this work aims at analyzing a video posted on the page “Quebrando o Tabu”, entitled “Do you say all black people are robbers? Lie! – Djonga reading comments”, in which the rapper Djonga, from Minas Gerais, answers questions from internet users on different topics, such as violence, race, racism and anti-racism. The analysis is carried out in view of Bakhtin’s theoretical assumptions, mainly with regard to the constitutive dialogue of discourse, in this case, digital discourse. Initially, we theorized about the fundamental concepts of the work; secondly, we analyzed some discursive segments of the object, considering its multimodality. The discussion is about how the dialogical relations present and identifiable in this linguistic-discursive materiality are established, as well as to the constitution of the categories race and racism. The analyzes indicate the understanding that the discourse is composed of an ideological trajectory of meaning, observable and unveiled in the gestures of interpretation, in which the socio-historical dimensions are necessarily involved.