Discursos sobre o silêncio em torno de Djamila Ribeiro

Abstract

This study adopts an anti-racist, decolonial, intersectional, and feminist perspective to examine the discursive practices surrounding the meanings of silence, as analyzed in a selection of texts by afro-Brazilian intellectual Djamila Ribeiro. The theorization of silence relates to the oppression endured by the Afro-diasporic population in Brazil, particularly Black women, which has shaped and established power relations, conflicts, and disputes that permeate and challenge social relationships in Brazil and globally to this day. Exploring the meanings of silence in Djamila Ribeiro’s work aligns with the thoughts of other Black feminists, who propose breaking away from hierarchical and oppressive discursive authorizations (Ribeiro, 2019a). Ribeiro advances a feminist and anti-racist “antigenealogy” of silence by referencing various Black intellectuals, including Sueli Carneiro, Grada Kilomba, Conceição Evaristo, Lélia Gonzalez, Audre Lorde, Patricia Hill Collins, and bell hooks. Like Ribeiro, these thinkers strive to define themselves as their own narrators, claiming their right to voice and existence. Speaking from her social position as an afro-Brazilian intellectual, Ribeiro develops the concept of “lugar de fala” (Ribeiro, 2020b) to address the enunciative space occupied by Black women intellectuals in Brazilian society, represented by figures such as Neusa Santos Souza, Beatriz Nascimento, Leda Martins, Lívia Natália, and Cida Bento, among others. In this context, the systemic silencing of this group is understood as the erasure of their existence (Ribeiro, 2019a). From the perspective of Discourse Analysis proposed by researcher and linguist Eni Orlandi (2015), the concept of silence points to a memory (interdiscourse) that is embedded in the ways of speaking of Djamila Ribeiro. Silence, as conceived by Orlandi, signifies not an absence but a form of meaning-making (Orlandi, 2007). The theoretical foundation of this work is grounded in Discourse Analysis (Orlandi, 2015; Maingueneau, 2004), Cartographic Discourse Analysis (Deusdará; Rocha, 2021), and Digital Discourse Analysis (Paveau, 2020; 2021; Dias, 2018), which provide avenues for reflecting on the effects of meaning in what is enunciated. The methodological approach involves enunciative discourse analysis with a qualitative methodology. The corpus analyzed includes Djamila Ribeiro's works Quem tem medo do feminismo negro? (2018) and Lugar de fala (2020), as well as her essay Eu me arrependo dos meus silêncios (2019), published in her column in Folha de S. Paulo. The corpus also encompasses analyses of silence in tweets referencing Ribeiro on X (formerly Twitter). In conclusion, this study underscores the importance of Djamila Ribeiro as an Afro-Brazilian intellectual from the Global South, who positions herself as an enunciator and brings the silencing of afro-Brazilian women into focus as a subject of reflection. Her work triggers reflections on discursive memory, establishing connections between the past and present of racism and sexism in Brazil and Latin America