Can Mary speak? An intersectional study of the tale “Maria” by Conceição Evaristo

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze the short story Maria, by Conceição Evaristo, from the perspective of the concept of intersectionality, from Kimberlé Crenshaw (1989) and Carla Akotirene (2019), as well as the concept of subalternity, proposed by Spivak (2014). The homonymous character in the short story Maria, by Conceição Evaristo, is an analogous representation of what these authors discuss about the identity of black women being complex and relational with aspects of race and gender and not one thing or the other. Thus, Maria performs a complexity, silenced and included in the dictates of subalternity, whose voice cannot be heard. In the analysis of Conceição Evaristo's short story, based on the concepts of Akotirene, Crenshaw, and Spivak, it can be seen how the character Maria and, consequently, the work, engender recurrent problems in Brazilian society, such as the silencing of subordinate subjects, especially black women. Thus, the importance of this article is given by its contribution to intersectional studies in Afro-Brazilian female authorship.