Maternal narratives in Chica da Silva's female and Afro-Brazilian portraits

Abstract

This article investigates the representations of motherhood and the body of the historical figure Francisca da Silva de Oliveira, known as Chica da Silva, in works by Afro-Brazilian women. Based on Afro-Brazilian literary productions, such as Chica da Silva - A Mulher que Inventou o Mar (2001), by Lia Vieira, and Chica da Silva - Romance de uma Vida (2016), by Joyce Ribeiro, as well as the historiographical work Chica da Silva e o Contratador de Diamantes: The Other Side of the Myth (2003), by Júnia Furtado, the study highlights the deconstruction of traditional narratives that have reduced Chica to eroticized and dehumanizing stereotypes. The analysis reveals that these works reconstruct Chica da Silva as a complex woman, attentive to motherhood and engaged in reframing her role in the 18th century mining elite, breaking with the limits of racism and misogyny.

The approach highlights the centrality of motherhood in the construction of her identity and shows how black-female literature and critical historiography broaden the horizons of Afro-descendant narratives, promoting a plural and humanizing vision of black women in colonial Brazil.