This paper analyzes Letters to a Black Woman (1978), by Françoise Ega, focusing on the representation of Black women in diasporic literature and on the human, ethical, and cognitive dimensions of social suffering and resistance. Structured as a fictional epistolary encounter with Brazilian writer Carolina Maria de Jesus, the book establishes a symbolic dialogue between Black female experiences in France and Brazil, marked by oppression, marginalization, and the construction of critical consciousness. A Martinican writer and activist, Ega draws inspiration from Carolina’s life and writings to compose a series of unsent letters denouncing the living and working conditions of Antillean immigrant women employed in domestic labor. By becoming a domestic worker herself, Ega transforms lived experience into narrative knowledge, exposing exploitation, silencing, and social invisibility. This study argues that the work breaks with stereotypical representations historically imposed on Black women by foregrounding subjectivity, memory, and ethical awareness. The analysis demonstrates how diasporic Black women’s writing operates as a manifestation of human intelligence through reflection, empathy, and resistance, reaffirming literature as a privileged space for visibility, identity construction, and social transformation.

Authors:
Isabella Martins, Univerty of Minas Gerais, Brazil

About the Presenter(s)
Isabela Lameira Martins is a PhD candidate in Education and MA in Languages. Her interests include Black women’s literature, literacy, and Youth and Adult Literacy. Her current project studies Black women’s reading practices in adult education.

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