CHARACTER STRENGTHS AND EMPOWERMENT OF ADOLESCENTS IN ANTI-RACIST PROJECTS

Abstract

The present study aimed to identify the 5 most evident character forces in 10 anti-racist projects, prepared by adolescents, most of whom are black, as well as to reflect on how these forces contribute to their empowerment in the fight against racism. After analyzing the projects, we highlight the actions described and the main impacts achieved in each one. The identification of character strengths was performed by 9 judges and the data were analyzed using the R software (version 4.3.3) and Fleiss' Kappa for evaluation reliability. The results showed that creativity, teamwork, hope, justice and social intelligence were the most evident forces and that of the 24 forces studied by Seligman and Peterson (2004), 20 were identified by the judges. In our discussion, we defend how much the highlighted character forces can contribute to the empowerment of adolescents in the fight against racism. However, we recognize the need for more empirical studies pointing out the relationship between these constructs in the struggle for the extinction of this evil, which causes psychic suffering for many black people.