Correntezas poéticas: negritude feminina na literatura brasileira contemporânea

Abstract

The term black-Brazilian literature, coined by Cuti (2010), brings together a set of productions that are connected through authorship and the black subjectivities in evidence. This study analyzes six black Brazilian authors who stand out today due to the way in which blackness is presented in their productions. We defend the thesis that contemporary Brazilian literature written by black women shows the emergence of a female figure who is a sign of empowerment for the group to which these authors belong and, consequently, the reconfiguration of the literary field in terms of themes and the elements that make up the narrative (narrator, character, space, time and plot). Likewise, their poems also reflect on black powers, both in terms of expression and content. For this reason, the writers in question sail the seas of poetry and prose. The three chapters into which this reflection is divided address issues such as slavery, racism, work and ancestry, and the ways in which these issues are formalized in the literary text. To this end, this thesis analyzes the following literary corpus: Navio Negreiro (2019), by Maria Duda, Nada digo de ti que em ti não veja (2020), by Eliana Alves Cruz, Poemas da recordação e outros movimentos (2017), by Conceição Evaristo, Redemoinho em dia quente (2019), by Jarid Arraes, O tapete voador (2016), by Cristiane Sobral, and Maréia (2019), by Miriam Alves. Our objectives are: to investigate how the productions in focus semiotize the social and literary revolutions engendered by black ancestry; study how such productions corroborate the emergence of demands regarding black female subjectivity in literary discourse; and understand the aesthetic-philosophical (re)arrangements triggered by the writings under analysis in contemporary Brazilian literature. In addition to the concept of Black-Brazilian literature, the discussions in this thesis draw from the sources of considerations on the journey of black subjects, developed by Grada Kilomba (2019); on black women, by bel hooks (2022); on structural racism, according to the studies by Sílvio de Almeida (2019); on issues pertinent to black women in Latin America, from the perspective by Lélia Gonzalez (2020); among other thinkers who contribute to understanding the process of black empowerment approached in literature.