“So as to like to be”: black literature, racism and self-esteem

Abstract

The title of this study echoes Ana Célia Silva´s eponymous poem, which associates black phenotype with the valorization of ancestral history and the negro libertarian struggles and conquests. The valorization of negritude is one of the most cherished themes by Afro-Brazilian literature, given the continuous racist discrimination to which the black population has been subjected ever since its violent removal from Africa. Initially this text contextualizes the relations between racism and self-esteem within the social relations established by the colonial system, going on to expose the identity tension that there may come to be in face of the negro submission and unquestioned acceptation of derogatory comments and of the introjections of Eurocentric patterns. There follows the literary analysis of two texts: the already mentioned poem, and Cristiane Sobral´s short story “Pixaim”. This literary corpus offers diverse viewpoints on black beauty and on the acceptance or rejection of inclusive or exclusive processes derived from racial prejudice. Theoretical foundation for these reflections is especially based on the thought of Gomes, Munanga and Silva.