A figura feminina no conto Olhos D’água, de Conceição Evaristo, na perspectiva da amefricanidade

Abstract

This study analyzes the short story Olhos d‟Água, by Conceição Evaristo, through the lenses of amefricanidade, matrilineal memory, and motherhood as a political act, highlighting how the author repositions Black women as central subjects of their own narratives. Drawing on the theoretical contributions of Lélia Gonzalez, Stuart Hall, y r nk y w m Pollak, Bosi, and other scholars from Black literature and cultural studies, the research examines how memory functions in the story as a mechanism of identity reconstruction, connecting past and presente through feminine ancestry. The study also investigates how Black motherhood is portrayed not only as an affective experience but as a form of resistance against racist and patriarcal structures that have historically silenced Black women. The analysis demonstrates that escrevivência a key concept in Evaristo‘s work transforms experiences of pain, poverty, abandonment, and affection into a political gesture affirming Black female subjectivity. The study concludes that Olhos d‟Água mobilizes symbolic, cultural, and historical dimensions that re-signify Black identity and expose structural inequalities, reaffirming literature as a tool of memory, resistance, and the reconstruction of subjectivities. This research reinforces the significance of Evaristo‘s work for understanding contemporary Afro-Brazilian literature and for strengthening epistemologies grounded in the experience of the African diaspora.