Black Women In Brazil Research Articles

DOS LAÇOS E NÓS DA DIÁSPORA

Kim Butler narrates her life trajectory in New York, at university and experience in Brazil in the 1980s. She remembers her first ideas about Brazil and black culture in the diaspora. It analyzes the theoretical, methodological and political changes that have been guiding new generations of academic black men and black women in Brazil.

The Politics of African Heritage in Black Brazilian Women's Literature

This article explores the contemporary literature of Afro-Brazilian women writers Lívia Natália, Cristiane Sobral, and Cidinha da Silva to understand how they cope with the personal impact of various forms of racial discrimination. The analysis fleshes out the imaginative juxta-position of African heritage, diasporic Black identities, and discriminatory contexts, with an emphasis on literary representation and interpretation of African religious symbols such as Eshu and Pomba Gira and how such symbols underscore the survival of African cultures on Brazilian soil vis-àvis the history of Black subjectivity. Literature as antiracist armament used by Black female subjects testifies to their resilience and demonstrates how their transformational discourses are necessary to revise the historical epistemic violence of oppressive systems and to express their personal and collective identities.

Writing for survival (… and to breathe)

AbstractI write from my perspective, the perspective of a Black Brazilian woman. From this perspective, I transpose the act of writing in order to survive (… and breathe). A piece of writing, writing that is laden with love, pain, daily experiences, and experiments. "Escrevivência” as writing from the experience of a Black Brazilian woman—sensibilities happen with/in my body in the encounter with the structures of the world. Subversive, insubordinate, and disobedient to the injustices of the world. This work believes that academia and research are potent in contributing to this struggle together with a subversive praxis and the strength of everyday micro‐practices. Take a breath we keep surviving.

The influence of race on cervical length in pregnant women in Brazil.

Short cervical length is a predictor of preterm birth. We evaluated if there were racial differences in variables associated with cervical length in pregnant Brazilian women. Cervical length was determined by vaginal ultrasound in 414 women at 21weeks gestation. All women were seen at the same clinic and analyzed by the same investigators. Women found to have a short cervix (≤25mm) received vaginal progesterone throughout gestation. Composition of the vaginal microbiome was determined by analysis of the V1-V3 region of the gene coding for bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA. Demographic, clinical and outcome variables were determined by chart review. Subjects were 53.4% White, 37.2% mixed race and 9.4% Black. Pregnancy, medical history and education level were similar in all groups. Mean cervical length was shorter in Black women (28.4mm) than in White (32.4mm) or mixed race (32.8mm) women (p≤0.016) as was the percentage of women with a short cervix (23.1, 12.2, 7.8% in Black, White, mixed race respectively) (p≤0.026). Mean cervical length increased with maternal age in White (p=0.001) and mixed race (p=0.045) women but not Black women. There were no differences in bacterial dominance in the vaginal microbiota between groups. Most women with a short cervix delivered at term. We conclude that Black women in Brazil have a shorter cervical length than White or mixed race women independent of maternal age, pregnancy and demographic history or composition of the vaginal microbiome.

LÉLIA GONZALEZ

Lélia Gonzalez was a memorable black activist and intellectual. He studied and fought racism and sexism, studies that today are called intersectionality, but were already treated by Lélia before the word appeared. Lélia graduated in History and Geography, was a Master in Communication and a PhD in Political Anthropology. She was also one of the founders of the Unified Black Movement against Discrimination and Racism (MNUCDR) in 1978, which today is known as the Unified Black Movement (MNU). In addition, Lélia published numerous works that contributed and contribute to the discussions on the racial issue and black women in Brazil.

Disproportionate Impact of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Among Pregnant and Postpartum Black Women in Brazil Through Structural Racism Lens.

The authors want to thank all the researchers from the Brazilian Group for Studies of COVID-19 and Pregnancy. Funding

Image and racism: Racial anthropophagy and the limits of anti-racist and decolonial cultural production in Brazil

In this article, we intend to talk about the representation of black people in Brazilian cinema, pointing out how hegemonic images of Brazilian cinema corroborate the structural racism of our society, analyzing films (and visual narratives) from the 2000s, a period considered the Resumption of Brazilian Cinema. Cinema produced by black directors emerges as counter-narratives, deepening the way in which Brazilian cinema represents the racial issue in Brazil in a stereotyped way. To think about this structural racism in the field of cinema we will deepen the concept of racial anthropophagy (Amparo, 2018; Paixao, 2015) a kind of aesthetic of the flesh, in which the image of the other (the black or black) is appropriate and devoured in the name of art. We will also seek to dialogue with black feminism in Brazil, emphasizing the specificity of this field and discussing image production around black women in Brazil.

“My hair, my crown”. Examining black Brazilian women’s anti-racist discursive strategies on social media

ABSTRACT For a long time, Brazil has fostered the image of a post-racial society; however, data reveals that: a) racism against black women remains strongly ingrained in the collective mind-set, b) social media has become a breeding ground for the construction and dissemination of racist ideologies, and c) black women encompass the predominant target of racist discourses on social media. Thus, this qualitative study explores anti-racist discourses fostered by black Brazilian women on social media. Employing critical discourse analysis in a selection of publicly available Facebook posts, the study reveals that narratives praising an Afro hairstyle embody a relevant political positioning resisting Brazil’s deep-seated gendered racism. They aim, first, to challenge Brazil’s hegemonic “whitened” beauty standard; second, to convey a renewed perception of black esthetics as a legitimate source of ethnic identity; and, finally, they represent a strong symbolic element to manifest black women’s agency and empowerment.

Black women’s oppositional gaze making images

In this article, we consider the audio-visual production carried out by black women in Brazil since the second decade of the 21st century. Our objective is to propose a reflection, adopting an intersectional approach, on how an oppositional gaze creates images that break with racist stereotypes and challenge whiteness (hooks, 1992). We argue that the production of black women in Brazil questions the reproduction of institutional racism and digs deeper into the issue of colonial past. They create a narrative dispute that the oppositional feminine gaze imposes on the film industry.

Os particulares contornos da migração forçada de mulheres negras: um olhar ao descortinamento de vulnerabilidades trazido pelo projeto “Vidas Refugiadas”

Vive-se hodiernamente um contexto com inúmeros conflitos ideológicos diante da temática migratória, não em seu sentido reducionista, mas na abordagem essencialmente ampla da ideologia predominante. O caráter desigual presente na distribuição das riquezas mundiais, somado aos numerosos conflitos armados e mudanças climáticas, gera um constante fenômeno migratório, onde pessoas passam a buscar novos lares, novos empregos e, sobretudo, uma vida digna. Ocorre, no entanto, que a narrativa desse fenômeno sempre se dá a partir de uma ótica masculina e eurocentrada e raramente com um foco na mulher, reforçando uma invisibilidade habitualmente experimentada pelo gênero feminino, fato este que se intensifica quando se acrescenta a negritude. Desta forma, após analisar o projeto Vidas Refugiadas e tendo por base o estudo “Perfil Socioeconômico dos Refugiados no Brasil”, pergunta-se: em que medida do projeto Vidas Refugiadas reflete a realidade dos processo migratórios de mulheres negras no brasil?

Black Women in Computing and Technology: Identity affirmation and Resistance

Considering black women in Brazil as a research subject involves new challenges about topics that are increasingly complex. In this sense, pertinent questions arise in seeking to comprehend contemporary phenomena and, consequently, leave room for disputable formulations, especially in areas of which science and technology have little understanding. This article offers a bibliographical essay that aims to begin the path to include black women in computing and technology, in a social background of sexism and racial segregation. Furthermore, it presents a summary of the resistance strategies used in black women’s course in this area by analyzing the elements of black identity strengthened by these initiatives in Brazil and abroad.

“When I discovered I was índia”: racialization processes in the migratory experiences of peruvians in Rio Janeiro

Abstract In this article, I reflect upon the ways in which Peruvians in Rio de Janeiro negotiate their process of racialization, based on the category Indian and their interaction with me, a Black Brazilian woman. Despite the fact that Indian is part of both the Brazilian and Peruvian racial classification system, this category has particular meanings in each context. When they “discover” they are Indians”, Peruvians face the specificities of anti-Indigenous racism in the urban context of Rio de Janeiro. They also deal with discrimination within the Peruvian community. This article analyzes the case of Peruvians who create self-definitions (Hill-Collins, 2016), both individually and collectively, that challenge stereotypes of peruanidad. Racialization also opens up possibilities for anti-racist solidarity between Peruvians and Black Brazilians. My research is based on ethnographic fieldwork carried out in Brazil and the United States from 2011 to 2016.

Rompendo o silêncio do sufoco: A escrita de Anita Realce, Esmeralda Ribeiro e Miriam Alves nos Cadernos Negros (Vol.8).

En un contexto impregnado por diversas opresiones de raza y género, la escritura de mujeres negras en Brasil se ha configurado históricamente como un potente espacio para el ejercicio de la creatividad y la reelaboración de su propia existencia, donde el acto de escribir se convierte en un acto político de coraje y la ficción, una especie de refugio. Las escritoras negras Esmeralda Ribeiro y Miriam Alves, en sus historias publicadas en la colección Cadernos Negros Vol.8 (1985), abordan cuestiones de raza y género, denunciando las relaciones de poder, los estereotipos misóginos y racistas y, principalmente, construyen discursos sobre mujeres negras, en una escritura sobre sí y para sí. De esta manera, este trabajo busca comprender, apoyado por los pensamientos de intelectuales como Patricia Hill Collins, Bell Hooks, Conceição Evaristo, Gloria Anzaldua y Sueli Carneiro, las interrelaciones y las complejidades de los temas relacionados con el género y la raza que abarcan la literatura de Esmeralda y Miriam. También espero comprender las formas en que se construyen narrativas de “contraconducta” que se configuran como formas de resistencia a los mecanismos de poder y dominación como los generados por el racismo y el patriarcado.

Eric Santner, “flesh”, soberania e arte: Dois corpos do povo ao sul do Equador?

This article analyzes two contemporary Brazilian artists – painter Rosana Paulino from Sao Paulo and writer Conceicao Evaristo from Minas Gerais – whose works strongly reflect the difficult space occupied by black Brazilian women, in light of Eric Santner’s book The Royal Remains: The People’s Two Bodies and the Endgames of Sovereignty. By means of clues left by the art produced in the period shaping modernity, Santner theorizes on the way in which post-monarchical societies confront the process of substituting monarchical sovereignty with popular sovereignty, established as they are in a context of scientistic reason, secularization, the eruption of capitalism, and the idea of the autonomy of subjects, and marked by the disciplinary power of biopolitics. Under the Eurocentric perspective (adopted by Santner) and based on the gaze of the Other, Rosana Paulino and Conceicao Evaristo’s artistic production effectively reveals that the question of popular sovereignty and the space people occupy in it still lacks a decolonial shift, raising new gazes and reflections.

“We black women have to kill a lion everyday”: An intersectional analysis of racism and social determinants of health in Brazil

The concept of intersectionality has been used to analyze and understand how multiple forms of identity and oppression interact to shape life experiences of marginalized groups. We conducted a qualitative study to explore how Black Brazilian women experience the intersections of race, class, and gender and the ways in which these intersecting experiences act as social determinants of health. Nine focus groups were conducted with Black, White, and mixed-race women of childbearing age (n = 37), social and health activists (n = 11), and health professionals (n = 20). The focus groups took place in two cities in the Brazilian state of Bahia during October and November 2012. Using a comparative approach, we describe participants' responses regarding the life experiences of women of differing racial and class backgrounds. Our findings highlight how the intersectional relationship between race, class, and gender alters women's social context and life course opportunities, as well as their stressors and protective buffers. We argue that the differing intersectional experiences of women due to race and class create unique social contexts that define the parameters of health and wellness. In addition, we argue that the experiences at each intersection (i.e., raceXclass, raceXgender, classXgender, raceXclassXgender) have a unique character that can be qualitatively described. Improved specification of exposures experienced by marginalized populations who experience intersecting forms of oppression can help explain intra- and inter-group differences in health outcomes, and may also lead to improved intervention models.

Harriet Ann Jacobs: feminismo e literatura

Este artigo concentra-se na apresentação de Incidents in the Life of Slave Girl (1861), de Harriet Ann Jacobs, com base na noção de autobiografia proposta por Philippe Lejeune (2008). Propõe-se um entrecruzamento desse gênero com as teorias feministas, com ênfase no feminismo negro, devido à relevância da obra para a Literatura negra e feminista, bem como para o Movimento Feminista e os Movimentos Negros do Brasil. Tendo em vista que se trata de escrita autobiográfica, com o relato de uma mulher em situação de escravidão nos Estados Unidos do século XIX, defende-se que a leitura de Incidents nos ajuda a compreender a importância da voz da mulher negra escravizada no Brasil, diante da escassez de registros acerca de obras literárias escritas por pessoas nessa situação.

Representações da violência no conto “Ana Davenga”, de Conceição Evaristo

A literatura produzida por Conceição Evaristo traz a condição do negro brasileiro, notadamente a da mulher negra brasileira. A escritora busca retratar a condição feminina negra na sociedade, de forma realista. A descrição feminina obedece ao real contexto de violência contra a mulher, exclusão social e racial, pois mostra que mesmo inserida em um grupo no qual é contestado pela cor da pele, a mulher negra tende a ser oprimida. As personagens de seus textos nos são expostas, carregadas de denúncias como isolamento, violência, submissão, vida na favela, exclusões sociais, entre outras. Nessa perspectiva, pretendemos analisar o conto “Ana Davenga” (2015), objetivando analisar como se configura a temática da violência. O texto em estudo é uma narrativa que, embora ficcional, é semelhante às vivencias de mulheres de nossa sociedade; embora seja um texto literário, simboliza histórias reais sobre as quais, na maioria das vezes, desconhecemos.

Atenção em saúde reprodutiva no Brasil: eventuais diferenciais étnico-raciais

Resumo Este estudo teve por objetivo comparar indicadores da atenção à saúde reprodutiva das mulheres negras e brancas. São utilizadas informações obtidas no âmbito da Pesquisa Nacional de Demografia, Saúde da Criança e da Mulher (PNDS 2006). Trata-se de uma pesquisa domiciliar por amostragem probabilística complexa com representatividade nacional. Permite inferência para cinco macrorregiões, incluindo o contexto urbano e rural. Foram estudadas 14.625 mulheres brancas e negras de 15 a 49 anos de idade, que representam, respectivamente, 40% e 54% da amostra total da pesquisa. Para análise da assistência à gestação, ao parto e ao puerpério avaliaram-se as gestações dos filhos nascidos vivos nos cinco anos anteriores à entrevista segundo seis variáveis: ter feito pelo menos uma consulta de pré-natal; ter realizado no mínimo seis consultas; o tipo de parto; ter tido a dor no parto normal aliviada; ter contado com presença de acompanhante no parto e ter feito consulta no puerpério. Além da cor, constituíram-se em variáveis independentes para cada um desses desfechos: idade da mulher na data da entrevista, macrorregião de moradia, residência urbana ou rural, estar ou não casada/unida, anos de estudo, religião atual, classificação econômica (critério Brasil) e posse ou não de convênio/plano de saúde. Na análise bivariada, mulheres negras, com menor escolaridade, pior classe econômica e não portadoras de plano de saúde apresentaram desfechos mais desfavoráveis. No entanto, após análise multivariada, as diferença entre brancas e negras perderam significância estatística. Desigualdades sociais e econômicas mantêm-se determinantes das iniquidades na atenção em saúde reprodutiva.

A Place of their own: Black Feminist Leadership and Economic and Educational Justice in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Perceptions of gendered, black inferiority have a long history in Brazilian society and politics. Even when taking class into account, the forms of oppression that stifle conversations on racism and sexism – racial democracy and machismo – are often viewed as distinct in social movements that singly address race, gender, class, or sexuality. As shown in previous research, black women occupy a unique political space that illuminates the intersectional reality of all these experiences. Despite the abundant research on recent political gains for Afro-Brazilians in terms of economic and education access, there has yet to be a study that fleshes out the contributions of black feminist leadership to these specific advancements. Additionally, with the virtual absence of black women leaders’ strategies in these debates, the current research has yet to address lacunae that a black feminist approach to racial justice identifies. How do black Brazilian women leaders choose, understand, and formulate the issues that comprise their political agenda? Using 2009 qualitative interview data from São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, I find that black Brazilian women’s leadership around economic access and education is motivated and characterized by their status and life experiences at the complex intersections of class inequality, racial democracy, and machismo. Their positions at these intersections not only structured past political agendas and underscore current policy gaps, but also demonstrate that a black feminist approach advances racial equality and justice for all Afro-Brazilians.

A mulher negra como musa no Brasil dos anos 1990: a agenda feminista e o imaginário compartilhado através da música Requebra da Banda Olodum

From a discursive analysis from the letter of Requebra musical composition, recorded by the Olodum Band in the 1990s, we can find directions on ideological convergence of this text with one of the agendas of African-Brazilian feminists, identifying the potential of these women as muses. The construction of this identity marks a radical difference of discursive positioning in relation to the general demands of the feminist movement articulated by women who are not black. This study of theoretical assumptions of Discourse Analysis, to consider aspects of the joints involved in the lyrics as producers of a sense of purpose. The historical context is configured as constitutive of knowledge enrolled in prepared statements in a given discursive memory. Inserted in the cultural industry, the deification of black women in Brazil is a sense produced by artists from African-Bahian blocks that disseminate statements to be entered in the national imaginary. It will deal with an analysis of a phenomenon that shapes the memory of a group, under the influence of speeches scattered in certain times and places, produced the effect of polysemic materiality of language.