A MULHER NEGRA E O CUIDADO

ATRAVESSAMENTOS DO RACISMO E DO SEXIMO NO MATERNAR NEGRO

Abstract

This paper proposes a debate on the intersectional impacts of racism, sexism, and class oppression on caregiving relationships, with a specific focus on Black women and their experiences of motherhood. We draw on Joan Tronto's (1997) perspective to discuss caregiving from a social, cultural, and political lens. Tronto explores caregiving through a feminist approach, allowing us to move beyond discussions of care as something confined to the private and subjective sphere and to bring it into a theoretical-critical field. Using the Life Narratives methodology, as proposed by Bertaux (2010), we explore the story of a black woman who shared her and her mother’s life trajectory, enabling a deeper theoretical and critical examination of the issue of care. This narrative provides a rich and unique perspective, bringing voice, body, and color to the discussion, which facilitates a more profound analysis of the roles historically assigned to Black women in the context of caregiving. Historically, these women are associated with the role of caregivers, yet paradoxically, they are often denied the right to be cared for and to freely exercise care for their own children. Through this narrative, we seek to highlight and question the normalization of the caregiving role assigned to Black women, while also analyzing the systemic exclusion that prevents them from having care fully guaranteed and recognized.