For an Afro-Latin American Feminism

Lélia Gonzalez

Isis International & MUDAR - Women for Alternative Development.

Women. Crisis and movement. Latin America and the Caribbean. Editions of the
Women, No. 9, (1988, 160 p.) Out of print.(1)

In this year of 1988, Brazil, the country with the largest black population in the Americas,
commemorates the centenary of the law that established the end of slavery in the country. The
celebrations extend across the national territory, promoted by countless
institutions, both public and private, that celebrate the 'one hundred years of the abolition.'

But for the Black Movement, the moment is much more of reflection than of
celebration. Reflection because of the text of the law of May 13, 1988 (known as
Golden Law), simply declared slavery extinguished, revoking all the
contrary provisions and... nothing more. For us, black women and men, our
the struggle for liberation began long before this act of legal formality and it
extends to the days of today. Our effort, therefore, is in the sense that the
Brazilian society, when reflecting on the situation of the black segment that it makes
part (hence the need to occupy all possible spaces for this to happen) can become
about herself and recognize, in her internal contradictions, the deep inequalities
racial characteristics that define it. In this sense, the other societies that also compose
this region, this continent called Latin America, hardly differs from society
Brazilian.

And this work, as a reflection on one of the internal contradictions of

Latin American feminism aims to be, with its evident limitations, a modest
contribution to its progress (after all, I am a feminist). By highlighting the emphasis
positioned in the racial dimension (when it comes to the perception and understanding of the
situation of women on the continent), I will try to show that, within the
movement, the blacks and the Indians are the living testimony of that exclusion. On the other hand,
based on my experiences as a black woman, I will try to highlight the initiatives of
approach, of solidarity and respect for difference, by colleagues
white women effectively committed to the feminist cause. To those exceptional women,
I call them sisters.

When I talk about experience, I mean a tough learning process in

the search for my identity as a black woman, within a society that oppresses me
and discriminates precisely for that reason. But a matter of ethical-political order imposes itself from
immediate. I cannot speak in the first person singular about something that is
painfully common to millions of women living in the region; I am referring to the
indigenous peoples and the African ones (Gonzalez), subordinated by a Latin identity that makes
legitimate their inferiority.
Feminism and Racism

It is undeniable that feminism, as a theory and practice, has played a role

fundamental in our struggles and conquests, as we present new
questions not only stimulated the formation of groups and networks, but also developed the
search for a new way to be a woman. By centralizing its analysis around the
the concept of patriarchal capitalism (or capitalist patriarchy) highlighted the foundations
materials and symbolic aspects of the oppression of women, which constitutes a contribution
of crucial importance for the direction of our struggles as a movement. To
demonstrating, for example, the political character of the private world, triggered a whole
public debate in which the theme of completely new issues emerged -
sexuality, violence, reproductive rights, etc. - that were revealed to be intertwined with the
traditional relationships of domination/submission. When proposing the discussion about
sexuality, feminism stimulated the conquest of spaces by homosexuals of
both genders, discriminated against for their sexual orientation (Vargas). Extremism
established by feminism made the search for an alternative model irreversible
society. Thanks to its theoretical production and its action as a movement, the world does not
it was more of the same.

But, despite his fundamental contributions to the discussion of the

discrimination based on sexual orientation, the same has not happened with other types of
discrimination, as serious as that suffered by women: racial discrimination. Here, if
we reported to North American feminism, the relationship was inverse; it was a consequence
of important contributions of the black movement: "The struggle of the sixties... Without the
Black Brotherhood, there would have been no Sisterhood without Power.
Black Power and Black Pride, there would not have been Gay Power and Pride.
"Gay" (David Edgar). And the feminist Leslie Cagan states: "The fact that the Movement
of Civil Rights has broken the assumptions about equality and freedom in
America opened up the space for us to question the reality of our freedom as
women.

But what is generally observed in the reading of the texts and in the practice
Feminist, they are formal references that denote a kind of oblivion of the issue.
racial. Let's take an example of the definition of feminism: it consists of the 'resistance of the
women in accepting roles, social, economic, political, ideological situations and
psychological characteristics that are based on the existence of a hierarchy
between men and women, from which women are discriminated against" (Astelarra). It would be enough
replace the terms men and women with whites and blacks (or Indians), respectively,
to have an excellent definition of racism.

Exactly because both sexism and racism stem from differences.

biological to establish themselves as ideologies of domination. It is appropriate, then, the
question: how is that 'forgetting' by feminism explained? The answer, to our
trial, it is in what some social scientists characterize as racism by omission and
whose roots, we say, are found in a Eurocentric worldview and
neocolonialist of reality.

It is worth revisiting here two categories of Lacanian thought that help to

our reflection. Intimately articulated, the categories of infant and assumed-subject
Knowing leads us to the theme of alienation. The former designates one who is not the subject of
his own speech, insofar as it is spoken by others. The concept of infant
it is constituted from the analysis of the child's psychic formation which, when being spoken by
adults in the third person are consequently excluded, ignored, made absent,
despite their presence; that discourse is then reproduced and speaks of itself in the third person
person (until the moment they learn to change personal pronouns). From the
the same way, we women and non-whites have been spoken of, defined and
classified by an ideological system of domination that infantilizes us. By imposing on us
an inferior place within their hierarchy (based on our biological conditions
of sex and race), suppresses our humanity precisely because we are denied the right
to be subjects not only of our own discourse, but of our own history. It is
It is unnecessary to say that with all these characteristics, we are referring to the system.
patriarchal-racist. Consequently, feminism that is coherent with itself cannot give
emphasis on the racial dimension. If I did so, I would paradoxically be accepting and
reproducing the infantilization of that system; and this is alienation.

The category of subject-supposed-knowledge refers to imaginary identifications.

with certain figures, to whom a knowledge is attributed that they do not possess
(mother, father, psychoanalyst, teacher, etc.). And here we refer to the analyses of a
Frantz Fanon and Alberto Memmi describe the psychology of the colonized in relation to
colonizer. In our opinion, the category of the subject-supposed-knowledge enriches even further.
more the understanding of the unconscious psychic mechanisms that are explained in the
superiority that the colonized attribute to the colonizer. In this sense, Eurocentrism and
its neocolonialist effect, mentioned above, are also alienated forms of a theory
and practice that is perceived as liberating.

For all that, Latin American feminism loses much of its strength by doing
abstraction of a data from reality of utmost importance: the multi-racial character and
pluricultural of the societies in the region. To address, for example, the sexual division of
work without articulating it with its corresponding racial level is to fall back into a kind of
abstract universal rationalism, typical of a masculinizing and white discourse. To talk about
the oppression of Latin American women is to speak of a generality that hides, that
emphasizes that it brings to light the harsh reality experienced by millions of women who pay
a very high price for not being white. We fully agree with Jenny
Bourne, when he states: 'I see anti-racism as something that is not outside of
Women’s movement is an intrinsic part of the best feminist principles.

But that gaze that does not see the racial dimension, that analysis and that practice that it
"forget", are not characteristics that become evident only in feminism
Latin American. As we will see next, the racial issue in the region has been
hidden within the interior of their hierarchical societies.

The racial issue in Latin America

A minimum of historical reflection is necessary here to get an idea of this.

process in the region. Especially in the countries of Iberian colonization.

First of all, it cannot be forgotten that the historical formation of Spain and
Portugal was formed from the struggle of many centuries against the Moors, who invaded the
Iberian Peninsula in the year 771. Moreover, the war between Moors and Christians (still
remembered in our popular festivals) did not have in the religious dimension its only strength
propellant. Constantly silenced, the racial dimension played an important role
ideological in the struggles of the Reconquista. In reality, the invading Moors were
predominantly black. In addition to that, the last two dynasties of their empire - the
from the Almoravids and Almohads - they came from West Africa (Chandler).
what we mean is that Spaniards and Portuguese acquired a solid
experience regarding the way of articulating racial relations.

Secondly, Iberian societies were structured in a highly

hierarchical, with many differentiated and complementary social layers. The strength of
the hierarchy was such that it was made explicit even in the nominal forms of address, transformed
in law by the king of Portugal and Spain in 1597. It goes without saying that, in this type
of structure, where everything and everyone has a specific place, there is no room for the
equality, especially for different ethnic groups, such as the Moors and the Jews, subjects
a violent social and political control (Da Matta).

Historical heirs of the ideologies of social classification (racial and sexual), thus
such as the legal and administrative techniques of the Iberian metropolises, the societies
Latino-Americans could not stop being characterized as hierarchical. Racially
stratified, they present a kind of color continuum that is manifested in a
true classificatory rainbow (in Brazil, for example, there are more than one hundred)
denominations to designate the color of people). In that context, it becomes
the segregation of mestizos, Indians, or blacks is unnecessary because the hierarchies guarantee the
superiority of whites as the dominant group.

In this way, the assertion that all are equal before the law assumes a
a distinctly formalist character in our societies. Latin American racism is
sufficiently sophisticated to keep blacks and Indians in the condition of segments
subordinates within the most exploited classes, thanks to their ideological form
more effective: the ideology of whitening, so well analyzed by Brazilian scientists.
Broadcast by the mass media and by the ideological apparatuses
traditional, she reproduces and perpetuates the belief that classifications and values
from white Western culture are the only true and universal ones. Once
established, the myth of white superiority proves its effectiveness through the effects of
violent disintegration, fragmentation of the ethnic identity produced by it; the
desire to whiten (to "clean the blood" as it is said in Brazil) is internalized
with the consequent denial of one's own race, of one's own culture.

There are not a few Latin American countries that, since their independence, abolished
the use of racial indicators in their censuses and in other documents. Some of them
They rehabilitated the Indian as a local symbol of resistance against colonial aggression.
neocolonial, despite, at the same time, maintaining the subordination of the population
indigenous. In relation to black people, there are many studies about their condition.
during the slave regime. But historians and sociologists silence their situation
since the abolition of slavery to two days ago, establishing a practice that
it makes this social segment invisible. The argument used by some social scientists
consists of the assertion that the absence of the racial variable in their analyses is due to
to the fact that black people were absorbed into the population included in
conditions of relative equality with other racial groups (Andrews).
 This stance has much more to do with studies of the Spanish language, in the
the moment that Brazil is almost placed as an exception within that framework; its literature
Scientific on the black in today's society is quite significant.

For the reasons stated, it is not difficult to conclude the existence of significant obstacles to the
study and the direction of racial relations in Latin America, based on their
regional settings and internal variations, for comparison with others
multiracial societies outside the continent. Indeed, this loud silence about the
racial contradictions are based, in modern times, on one of the most effective
myths of ideological domination: that of racial democracy.

In the sequence of the supposed equality of all before the law, he affirms the
existence of a great racial harmony... as long as they are under the shield of
dominant white group; what reveals its connection with the ideology of
bleaching. In our opinion, the one who best synthesized that type of racial domination was
a Brazilian comedian, stating: 'In Brazil there is no racism because black people
they recognize their place" (Millor Fernández). It is worth noting that even the left absorbed the
thesis of 'racial democracy', to the extent that its analyses on our reality
they never managed to glimpse anything beyond the contradictions of
class.

Methodologically mechanistic (due to Eurocentrism), they ended up becoming

accomplices of a domination they intended to combat. In Brazil, this type of perspective
began to undergo a reformulation with the return of the exiles who had fought
the military dictatorship, at the beginning of the eighties. This is because many of them
(perceived as white in Brazil) were subject to racial discrimination abroad.

Despite this, in only one country on the continent do we find the great and unique
exception in relation to a specific action in the sense of abolishing inequalities
racial, ethnic, and cultural. It is a geographically small country, but
gigantic in the quest to meet oneself: Nicaragua. In September
In 1987, the National Assembly approved and enacted the Statute of Autonomy for the Regions.
from the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua. In them, there is a population of three hundred
one million inhabitants, divided into six ethnic groups characterized even by their differences
lingüísticas: 182 mil mestizos, 75 mil misquitos, 26 mil creoles (negros), 9 mil sumus, 1750
Garifunas (blacks) and 850 branches. Composed of six titles and five articles, the Statute of
Autonomy implies a new political, economic, social, and cultural reorganization that
responds to the demands for participation from coastal communities. Beyond
to guarantee the election of local and regional authorities, the Statute ensures the
community participation in the definition of projects that benefit the region and
recognizes the right of ownership over communal lands. On the other hand, not only
it guarantees the absolute equality of ethnicities but also recognizes their rights
religious and linguistic, rejecting all forms of discrimination. One of its great
the effects was the repatriation of 19 thousand indigenous people who had left the country.
Crowning of a long process in which mistakes and successes accumulated, the Statute of
Autonomy is one of the great conquests of a people that fights 'to build a
new nation, multi-ethnic, pluricultural, and multilingual based on democracy, the
pluralism, anti-imperialism, and the elimination of social exploitation and oppression in
all its forms.
 It is important to emphasize that, in the context of deep racial inequalities
existing on the continent, are recorded and very well articulated, sexual inequality. They
it deals with a double discrimination of non-white women in the region: the African American women
and the Amerindians. The dual nature of their biological condition - or racial and sexual - makes
that they are the most oppressed and exploited women in a region of capitalism
patriarchal-racist dependent. Precisely because that system transforms the differences
in inequalities, the discrimination they suffer takes on a triple character, given their
class position: Amerindians and Americans are mainly part of the
immense Afro-Latino American proletariat.

For an Afro-Latin American feminism

It is Virginia Vargas V. who tells us: 'The presence of women in the scene
Social is an unquestionable fact in recent years, seeking new solutions in the face of
to the problems imposed by a social, political, and economic order that has historically
has marginalized them. In this presence, the economic, political, social, and cultural crisis (...) has
it has been a triggering element that has accelerated processes that were already underway. In
effect, if on one hand the crisis has heightened the evidence of the exhaustion of a model of
the development of dependent capitalism, on the other hand, has exposed how its
effects are received differently across broad social sectors, according to the
specific contradictions in which they have been immersed, thus encouraging the
the emergence of new fields of conflict and new social actors. Thus, in the field
of social relations, the effect of the crisis has been to return us to a much more
complex and heterogeneous nature of social, economic, and political dynamics. It is in this
complexity that locates the emergence and recognition of new movements
social issues, including that of women, who advanced from their contradictions
specific, a deep questioning of the structural logic of society (Castells)
and potentially contain an alternative vision of society.

When characterizing different modalities of participation, she points to three aspects,

differentiated by an expression, within the movement: popular, political-party
And feminist. And it is precisely in the popular that we will find greater participation of
African and Amerindian women who, concerned about the issue of family survival,
they seek to organize collectively; on the other hand, their presence especially in the market
informal work refers to new demands. Given their social position, which is
it articulates with their racial and sexual discrimination, they are the ones who suffer the most brutally
effects of the crisis. If one thinks about the type of economic model adopted and the type of
modernization that flows from it - conservative and exclusionary, due to its effects of
concentration of income and social benefits – it is not difficult to conclude the situation of these
women, as in the Brazilian case, at the time of crisis (Oliveira, Porcaro, and Araújo).

In this perspective, we cannot overlook the important role of the

Ethnic Movements (EM), as social movements. On one hand, the Movement
Indigenous (MI), which is strengthening more and more in South America (Bolivia, Brazil, Peru,
Colombia, Ecuador) and Central (Guatemala, Panama and Nicaragua, as we have already seen), not only
it proposes new discussions about traditional social structures but rather seeks the
reconstruction of their Amerindian identity and the rescue of their own history. On the other hand
the Black Movement (MN) – and let’s talk about the Brazilian case by clarifying the articulation between
the categories of race, class, gender, and power unmask the structures of domination
of a society and a state that see as 'natural' the fact that four fifths of
the black workforce is kept imprisoned in a kind of belt
socio-economic that "offers them the opportunity" for manual and unskilled work. It is not
It is necessary to say that for the same work performed by whites, the yields are
always lower for black workers of any professional category (especially
in those with the highest rating). Meanwhile, the profit appropriation of the production
Afro-Brazilian culture (transformed into Brazilian, national, etc.) is also seen as
natural

An important piece of our historical reality fits here: for us,

African descendants from Brazil and other countries in the region - as well as for the Amerindians -
Consciousness of oppression occurs first of all, due to race. Exploitation of
class and racial discrimination constitute the basic references of the common struggle for
men and women belonging to a subordinate ethnicity. The historical experience of the
black slavery, for example, was terrible and painfully experienced by men and women,
whether they were children, adults, or old people. And it was within the slave community that
they developed political-cultural forms of resistance that today allow us to continue a
pluri-secular struggle for liberation. The same reflection is valid for the communities.
indigenous peoples. Because of all that, our presence in the ME is quite visible; there we are,
African and Amerindian, we have active participation and, in many cases, we are
protagonists.

But it is exactly that participation that brings us to awareness of the

sexual discrimination. Our movement partners replicate the practices
sexists of the dominant patriarchy and try to exclude us from the decision-making sphere of
movement. And it is precisely for that reason that we seek the MM, the theory and the practice
feminists, believing they would find a solidarity as important as racial solidarity there: the
brotherhood. But what we actually find are practices of exclusion and
racist domination that we address in the first section of this paper. We are
invisible in the three aspects of the MM; including in the one where our presence is
mayor, we are discolored, or deracialized, and placed in the popular category (the
few texts that include the racial dimension only confirm the general rule). An example
illustrative: two poor families - one black and one white - whose monthly income is 180
dollars (equivalent to three minimum wages in Brazil, today); inequality is
it is evident in the fact that the activity rate of the black family is higher than
in the white (Oliveira, Porcaro and Araújo). There it is explained our scarce presence in
the other two branches.

Given the above, it is not difficult to understand that our alternative, in terms of
MM, it was to organize ourselves as ethnic groups. And, to the extent that we fight in
on two fronts, we are contributing to the advancement of both the ME and the MM (and
vice versa, evidently). In Brazil, already in 1975, on the occasion of the historic meeting
of the Latinas, which would mark the beginning of the MM in Rio de Janeiro, the American ones would
they made presents and distributed a manifesto that evidenced the exploitation
economic-racial sexual and the consequent treatment "degrading, dirty and disrespectful" of which
we are an object. Its content is not very different from the Manifesto of the Black Peruvian Woman
on International Women's Day, in 1987, signed by two organizations of the MN of
this country: Women's Action Line of the Afro-Peruvian Research Institute and Group
of Women from the Black Movement 'Francisco Congo'. Denouncing their situation of
discriminated among the discriminated, they assert: "A perfect image was molded for us.
in all matters related to domestic, artistic, and servile activities, we were considered
"experts in sex." This is how the prejudice that women...
black only serves for these purposes." It is worth noting that the twelve years that surround the
two documents mean nothing compared to the nearly five centuries of exploitation that both
They denounce. In addition to that, it is observed that the situation of the Americans from two countries
it is practically the same from all points of view. A 'popular' Brazilian saying
White to marry, mulatto to fornicate, black to...
"to work". That the roles attributed to the women of African descent (dark-skinned and mulatto) are addressed;
abolished their humanity, they are seen as animalized bodies: on one hand they are the
"pack donkeys" of sex (that Brazilian mulattoes are a model). In this way,
it is noted how socioeconomic super-exploitation becomes an ally of the
sexual super-exploitation of African women.

In the two groups of Amerindians in Peru, a practice that is also confirmed

it is common for us: it is from the MN that we organize ourselves, and not from the MM. In the case of the
dissolution of a group, the trend is to continue militancy within the MN,
where despite everything, our rebellion and our critical spirit are present in a
climate of greater historical and cultural familiarity. Already in the MM, these manifestations
ours, many times, were characterized as antifeminists and even as
reverse racists" (which presupposes a "legitimate racism", that is, legitimate); hence
our misunderstandings and resentments. In any case, the American groups of
women began organizing across the country, especially in the eighties. We carried out,
also our regional meetings and this year we will have the First Meeting
National Black Women. Meanwhile, our Amerindian sisters also
they are organized within the Union of Indigenous Nations, the largest expression of the MI
in our country.

In this process, it is important to highlight that the relationships within the MM do not
they are made only of misunderstandings and resentments with Latinas. Already in the seventies,
a few approached us and helped us and learned with us, in a
effective exchange of experiences, consistent in its egalitarianism. The understanding and
Solidarity expanded in the 1980s, thanks to the ideological changes themselves.
and behavior within the MM: a new feminism was shaping in our
horizons, increasing our hopes for the expansion of their perspectives. The
creation of new networks such as the Women's Workshop of the Americas (which prioritizes the struggle
against racism and patriarchy from an anti-imperialist perspective) and
DAWN/MUDAR, are examples of a new way of looking at feminism, bright and
enlightened for being inclusive, for being open to the participation of ethnic women and
culturally different. And Nairobi was the setting for this change, for this deepening,
of this encounter of feminism with itself.

Proof of this were two very strong experiences that we had the privilege of
share. The first, in November 1987, at the II Meeting of the Women's Workshop of
the Americas in the city of Panama; there, the analyses and discussions ended up
breaking down barriers – in the recognition of racism by feminists – and prejudices
anti-feminists from the indigenous and African American popular sectors.
second, it was in the following month, in La Paz, at the Regional Meeting of DAWN
CHANGE; present, the most representative women of Latin American feminism, both
for its theoretical production as well as for its effective practice. And a single African presence
He argued throughout the meeting about the contradictions already noted in this.
work. It was, truly, an extraordinary experience for me, in light of the testimonies
frank and honest on the part of the Latinas present, regarding the racial issue. I left
revived from there, confident that a new era was opening for all of us, women
from the region. More than ever, my feminism felt strengthened. And the title of this work
It was inspired by that experience. That is why I dedicate it to Neuma, Leo, Carmen,
Virginia, Irma (tu tarjeta de navidad me hizo llorar), Taís, Margarita, Socorro, Magdalena,
Stella, Rocío, Gloria and the Amerindian Lucila and Marta. Good luck, women!

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MOREIRA ALVES, Branca. Feminism and Ideology. Petrópolis, Vozes. 1980.

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VARGAS, Virginia. Feminism and Women's Social Movement, Mimeographed. n.d.

____________________

Anthropologist, member of the National Council of Women's Rights [of Rio

January, Brazil.
____________________

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