“Living in the world of the White”. The tensions between class and race in the experiences of persons racialized as Black in Bogotá's middle class

Abstract

This article analyzes the relations between class and race among persons racialized as Black in Bogotá's middle class, from several points of view. First, I draw on historical, theoretical works about the social class formation and the processes of racialization in the Colombian and Latin American context and, secondly, I analyze different experiences of persons racialized as Black in Bogotá's middle class (Colombia). I draw attention to the everyday tensions between their racial position/assignments and their class position/assignments to argue that these are lived as contradictory experiences of status – either as discriminatory situations or like everyday actions that alternately challenge or reinforce the racial and class orders