O grito de resistência na voz da mulher negra: Carolina Maria de Jesus

Abstract

The aim of this dissertation is to analyze the writing of Carolina Maria de Jesus (1914- 1977), based on the works of her experience: Quarto de despejo: diário de uma favelada (2014b), Casa de alvenaria (2021a; 2021b) and Diário de Bitita (2014a) and evidence how latent is the cry of resistance that deafens and bothers the hegemonic standards of our society. It is important to highlight that the author's presence on the literary scene is undoubtedly an emblem of cultural resistance and of the fight against oppression, as she mobilizes herself as a spokesperson for the black subject, exposing not only her ills, but also of many Brazilians who live unprotected by the State. When scarcity emerges, hunger is an ally to rewrite another story: one of tireless struggles for social visibility and for the dream of becoming a writer. Thus, this political and testimonial writing rescues and, at the same time, criticizes the unforgettable memories of colonialism and structural violence. The great contribution of this current and immortal literary corpus is to help us understand the facts of the country we live in today, leading us to think, above all, that literature written by black female authors breaks with the “single story”, allowing black women to speak from themselves about the wounds that do not heal, as an action to fill historical voids and crack racism, discrimination and injustices that restrain their representativeness. Thus, we can conclude that these works of Carolina Maria de Jesus are within the reader's reach and are instruments of power in the hands of a black woman who reflects on the intellectual invisibility of Afro-descendant subjects in a diasporic context. Texts of bell hooks, Chimmanda Adichie, Conceição Evaristo, Djamila Ribeiro, Édouard Glissant, Gayatri Spivak, Gloria Anzaldúa, among others, will be used as theoretical framework for these discussions.