ABSTRACT
I dedicate this chapter to my very dear and inspiring friend, Andrew Samuels. With his rich and creative mind, Andrew has always suggested new ways to direct my thoughts and writings. Above all, Andrew has opened up new attitudes to social reality both internationally as well as in relation to Latin America’s complex identity. My recent research on racism in Brazil and the problem of fundamentalism in Latin America was based on some of his ideas and suggestions. The present chapter deals with another interest for me, psychosomatics. The clinical case studied here, which looks at the importance of racial prejudice in the developing of tensions and aggressions within a middle-class Brazilian family, also shows some influence of Andrew’s.
