A poética feminina incendiária: a palavra como fogo libertário em Roberta Tavares e Noémia de Sousa

Abstract

This study examines the construction of the concept of incendiary feminine poetics as a reading category for Afro-Amazonian Black quilombola and Mozambican African Black poetics. Drawing on the works of Roberta Tavares, from the Quilombo Cravo community in Pará, Brazil, and Noémia de Sousa, from Mozambique, it investigates how their incendiary lyrical voices transform experiences shaped by colonialism, racism, and gender inequality into expressions of denunciation, identity affirmation, and resistance. Grounded in D’Onófrio’s structural analysis of lyric texts and informed by the theoretical contributions of Conceição Evaristo, Carla Akotirene, Inocência Mata, Laura Padilha, and Verónica Gago, the study explores how memory, ancestry, and resistance intersect in the affirmation of Black identities. The poems analyzed reveal writing as a space for confronting historical violence, preserving collective memory, and affirming shared knowledge. From this perspective, incendiary feminine poetics is presented as an analytical framework that broadens the possibilities for interpreting literary works by Black women authors, highlighting forms of resistance to colonial, racial, and patriarchal structures. Finally, as an extension of the analysis, incendiary feminine poetics is also proposed as a pedagogical approach that contributes to discussions on literature teaching, the implementation of Brazilian Law nº 14.986/2024, the recognition of historically marginalized Black women writers, and the promotion of pedagogical practices grounded in gender and ethnic-racial education.