Oshun Okantonú!, la imagen literaria de la mujer negra en las escritoras caribeñas

Abstract

This thesis examines the prevalence of racial and gender discrimination as well as their impact in literature that is made explicit by the negative representation of black women of the Hispanic Caribbean. Eurocentric, racist, sexist and ideological views are distinguished, as well as other deformations of the cultural legacy related to black women. Therefore the study warns about the need to "rebuild" the representation of women of African descent, subjected to the distortion of degrading stereotypes, and to increase the visibility and recognition of their cultural contribution, particularly as writers. The urgency of an anthology is suggested in order to promote its dissemination. The thesis is organized into three parts. The theoretical and conceptual foundations in the form of theories of social representation, in general, and of the social representation of women are considered in the first part. Only certain concepts and points of view on sex, gender, race and ethnicity are considered, given their dispersion and variety. Given the importance of characters in the construction of narrative text, we also review this element from different perspectives, based on the analysis of discourse. We also mention the concepts of textual reception and female identity. Finally, the origins of racism and the causes of its persistence in the islands of the Hispanic Caribbean are examined. In the second part, we deal with the representation of blacks in Caribbean culture, particularising in Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. The problems that persist in the representation of black women in the literature of the aforementioned countries are synthesized also. We advance a proposal about the reconstruction of the representation of Caribbean black women, based on the analysis of representative work of Caribbean black women writers. Also, we present representative work of non-Hispanic Caribbean authors in order to complete the representation of black women in the region. Finally, in the third part, the production of black female creators in other areas, such as cinema, plastic arts, internet and performative action as a modality of contemporary drama, are considered. The correspondence of the author of this thesis with the black Cuban writer Inés María Martiatu Terry is attached as an Appendix, as well as the transcription of an interview with this author in relation to this thesis.