Identidade decolonial da mulher negra em Úrsula e a Escrava, de Maria Firmina dos Reis

Abstract

The novel Úrsula (1859) and the short story A escrava (1887), by Maria Firmina dos Reis, were written in a colonialist context in which women, especially black women, suffered from cisheteropatriarchal power. The characters in the works provide a true perspective of the late XIX century in the province of Maranhão, specifically in the lands of Vera Cruz, allowing us to understand the segregation between the female and male protagonists. Despite the difficulties in expressing themselves in society, the women present an anti-segregationist discourse by objectively detailing their sufferings. The descendants of the blacks Preta Susana, Joana, Mãe de Túlio and Joana are responsible for denouncing colonialist power, the latter two being the representation of thousands of women who suffer and die, unaware of their freedom and without the assistance of other family members. The purpose of this research is to examine Black Brazilian Literature, highlight the writing actions of Firmina during her life and work, identify the female empowerment present in the works studied, evaluate the critical fortune of the works and examine the identity aspects, such as the decoloniality and intersectionality of the female characters, especially Preta Susana and Joana, who constantly demonstrate sorority by listening to their voices, contextualized in their place of protagonism. This is a qualitative bibliographical study, the scope of which is divided into three sections. The first part of the scenario of Brazilian Black Literature covered everything from its foundation in the state of Maranhão, through the paradigms of nomenclature, to contemporary writers, based on the studies of Meireles (1955), Moraes (1972/1977), Neto Santos (2004), Bernd (1988/1922/2010), Bastide (1973), Fonseca (2006), Proença Filho (1988), the process of representation of Maria Firmina dos Reis in Brazilian Black Literature was described as a literature that was at times avant-garde and at times foundational, through the studies of Morais (1975), Duarte (2004/2017), Silva (2013) and Mendes (2016), who highlight the importance of the writer in the canon of Brazilian and world literature. In short, the aim was to investigate the identity, decolonial and intersectional process of the female characters, based on feminist criticism by González (2018), Lugones (2005/2010), hooks (2019a/2019b/2018), Quijano (2005), Memmi (1920), Verguès (2020), Akotirene (2019), Collina and Bilge (2021), Tolomei (2019) and Vigoya (2016). In general terms, the female characters, Preta Susana and Joana, demonstrate the ability to promote relevant changes in the context in which they are inserted by transgressing the social impositions on women, such as submission to men and the slavery practices of the time, in favor of their freedoms, independence and recognition as subjects of their own stories.