MEMORY, VOICES AND RESISTANCE IN CONTEMPORARY BLACK WOMEN'S LITERATURE:
CONCEIÇÃO EVARISTO AND VERA DUARTE
literature by black women. Conceição Evaristo. Vera Duarte
This thesis is located in the area of Literature and Social Life in Portuguese-Speaking Countries of the Postgraduate Program in Literary Studies (PPGEL) and presents a study on the literature of two black women from Portuguese-speaking countries and which highlights, in common, writing as a way of reconstructing the image of black women; an image that has been crystallized in Western society, as hypersexualized, subordinated and made invisible. Not long ago, research on black-Brazilian and African Portuguese-language literature and, specifically, on black-female literature was not common in Literary Studies. However, due to the implementation of Law 10,639/03, which made the teaching of African and Afro-Brazilian history and culture mandatory in school curricula, in public and private institutions, research in this area increased. However, there is still a lot to be done so that Black-Brazilian and African Portuguese-speaking Literatures reach basic education schools effectively and become an interest of study for researchers and teachers in Basic Education classrooms. The works analyzed within the scope of this work are "Ponciá Vicêncio", by Conceição Evaristo and "A Candidata", by Vera Duarte, in which we seek to identify the similarities and specificities of the literary production of these two writers. The proposal is to carry out an investigation that addresses recurrences and constants in the selected corpus of the writers, both in the thematic aspect and in the aesthetic solutions that allow us to elucidate the forms of survival and resistance of female characters in their societies. As this is bibliographical research, we base our conclusions on heterogeneous theoretical contributions: Antonio Candido (2000), Benjamim Abdala Junior (2023), Cuti (2010), Frantz Fanon (2022), Homi Bhabha (1998), Lélia Gonzalez (2020) , Regina Dalcastagnè (2012), Gayatri Spivak (2010), Inocência Mata (2023), Simone Caputo Gomes (2019), among other theorists. In this way, we will seek to understand the small forms of resistance and subsistence of women in the face of patriarchal societies that we will seek to unveil through their writings.
Keywords: Black female literature. Portuguese official language. Conceição Evaristo. Vera Duarte.