The Politics of African Heritage in Black Brazilian Women’s Literature

• Published in: Women's studies quarterly 2021-10, Vol.49 (1), p.297-315
• Main Author: Rodrigues, Felipe Fanuel Xavier
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Contemporary literature; Cultural heritage; Diaspora; Females; Feminism; Literary criticism; Literary Devices; Literature; Military weapons; Oppression; Oral Tradition; Part III. Solidão in Lived Theory: Black Brazilian Women’s Knowledge Production; Power; Racial discrimination; Racial Identification; Racism; Religion; Resilience; Resilience (Psychology); Self concept; Slavery; Spirituality; Subjectivity; Violence; Womens literature; Writers; Writing
• ISSN: 0732-1562; 1934-1520; 1934-1520
• DOI: 10.1353/wsq.2021.0043

This article explores the contemporary literature of Afro-Brazilian women writers Lívia Natália, Cristiane Sobral, and Cidinha da Silva to understand how they cope with the personal impact of various forms of racial discrimination. The analysis fleshes out the imaginative juxtaposition of African heritage, diasporic Black identities, and discriminatory contexts, with an emphasis on literary representation and interpretation of African religious symbols such as Eshu and Pomba Gira and how such symbols underscore the survival of African cultures on Brazilian soil vis-à-vis the history of Black subjectivity. Literature as antiracist armament used by Black female subjects testifies to their resilience and demonstrates how their transformational discourses are necessary to revise the historical epistemic violence of oppressive systems and to express their personal and collective identities.