Pelos becos da memória: um estudo da experiência negro-feminina na contemporaneidade através da literatura de Conceição Evaristo

Abstract

The black literature, especially by women, is finally gaining focus in the Brazilian academic scene. The discussions carried out in the black-female literature cover various areas of the Afrodiaspora reality experienced by the Afro-descendant population in Brazil, including the issue of poverty, sexism, emotional abandonment, racial discrimination, low esteem of the black population, the hypersexualization of black bodies, African heritage, ancestry and other issues that run through the daily lives of Afro-descendants in Brazil. One of the authors of greatest academic relevance at the moment is Conceição Evaristo, a black woman from Minas Gerais, from a favela in Belo Horizonte, daughter of a washerwoman, a teacher, PhD in Letters and a writer by vocation. Evaristo, in his works, seeks to portray mainly the experience of women in situations of poverty. This work focuses on Becos da Memória, the first novel written by the author and the second to be published. In it, she portrays aspects of the past and daily life of residents of a favela that is in the process of expropriation and demolition, drawing attention to various social issues that directly affect the peripheral black population of Brazil, especially the experiences of women from work: children, teenagers, adult women, mothers, aunts, grandparents, etc. The focus of this work is precisely these black-female experiences and the way they illustrate a reality that is present in Brazil.