"Vozes-mulheres" em cena: representações de mulheres negras em contos de Conceição Evaristo

Abstract

Historically, the presence of black people in Brazilian literature has been marked either by invisibility or by negative and/or stereotyped representations. Despite some progress, there are still stereotyping practices in Brazilian literature and culture in general that try to fix the black population, especially black women, in subordinate and degrading positions. In view of this, we start from the assumption that literary production of black women, as well as that of other oppressed groups silenced by the literary canon, has been reaffirming itself as an important instrument for reflection, understanding and transformation of social reality. Thus, in dialogue with studies that recover the representations of black people in Brazilian literature as well as discussions related to the concepts of identity, difference and representation, this research sought to analyze the representations of black women in short stories selected from the collections Insubmissas lágrimas de mulheres (2016a) and Olhos d'água (2016b), with the aim of highlighting how the critical reading of these narratives contributes to denouncing and questioning the processes of violence and social exclusion experienced by black people, especially black women in Brazil. Our analysis, using a methodological approach of a bibliographical nature, which articulates the contributions of Literary Criticism, History, Sociology and Black Feminist Thought, confirms that, through a gesture that goes beyond the mere positivization of black identity, aiming to reconstitute the humanity historically denied to the black population in general and to black women in particular, Conceição Evaristo´s literary production, in addition to imploding the dominant representations in Brazilian literature, has been asserting itself as a fundamental instrument in the fight against the different and interconnected forms of subordination and precariousness of life. Furthermore, our analysis shows that, by re-signifying the way we see ourselves and deal with differences, these narratives open up space for the flourishing of new ways of being and existing in the world that are not codified by the prevailing structures of power and domination