Representing Black Girlhood in Brazil: Culture and Strategies of Empowerment

Abstract

In this article, I examine how popular and alternative media depict Afro‐Brazilian girlhood and young adulthood. In discussing representations of Black girlhood in Brazil I draw attention to the importance of Brazilian and Afro‐Brazilian culture to understanding the empowerment of Black girls. In Brazil, girls of African descent operate in a national context that centers narratives of whitening, racial mixture, and the denial of Blackness as a category. Additionally, Black girls experience aesthetic standards that value Whiteness and their general invisibility in public culture, which can contribute to low self‐esteem. The recent rise of MC Soffia, a Black girl MC, and short films by Afro‐Brazilian women demonstrate that cultural traditions and acts are central to Black girls' empowerment.

Niñez afrodescendiente y el derecho a la participación: implicaciones sociales y relaciones escolares

“…La La participación como acción para la transformación social, la conciencia política y el protagonismo de niñas y niños adquieren varias formas cualitativas y fenomenológicas de enunciación, las cuales van desde lo simple hasta lo meta participativo (TRILLA y NOVELL, 2001). Hace parte de esta tendencia Gillam (2017):…”

Satirical Antiracism: Digital Protest Images in Afro‐Brazilian Media

“…In particular, subaltern communities have utilized cinema and videos as a critical locus through which to maintain their cultural practices and protest threats to their ways of life (Ginsburg 1991; Turner 1992). Afro‐Brazilians have turned to their own media production in the form of film (Dennison 2020; Gillam 2017; Heise 2012; Souza 2011), television (Gillam 2013), and social media (Mitchell‐Walthour 2018; Perrine 2019) to excavate other possibilities for Black representation beyond mainstream media. Looking strictly at the discourses within the parodies of commercials that Is That OK With You?…”

Re-Theorizing Silence(s)

“…Recently there has been an increase of studies on Black young women in educational context (e.g., ANYON, 2014;CARTER, 2001, GILLAM, 2017JONES 2009;MORRIS, 2007;MUHAMMAD, 2012;MORRIS, 2016;ROLLOCK, 2007;SEALEY-RUIZ, 2016;WINN, 2019;WUN, 2016). These scholars address the unique challenges that young women of color navigate in schools.…”