This chapter critically examines the visuocentric paradigmVisuocentric Paradigm underlying racial perception in Brazil, particularly in the context of heteroidentification procedures for affirmative action. It argues that official guidelines and legal frameworks, by privileging phenotypic criteriaPhenotypic Criteria, reinforce the belief that race is an essentially visual phenomenon, creating epistemological and practical contradictions. The chapter explores how reliance on visual assessment perpetuates a neo-Cartesian model that treats racial identity as objectively inscribed in the body. Through an interdisciplinary dialogue with sensory ethnography and Ingold’s critique of representationalismRepresentationalism, it challenges the assumption that vision uniquely conveys racial truth. The discussion culminates in Obasogie’s research on blind individuals, revealing that racial perception is socially constructed through cultural practices rather than visual evidence. Ultimately, the chapter calls for expanding constructionist perspectives to decenter vision and rethink racial intelligibility beyond the authority of the gaze.