My context for understanding the radical black female subject is a particular formulation of the black radical tradition that combines intellectual and activist work in the service of one’s oppressed communities.
—Carole Boyce Davies, The Left of Karl Marx: The Political Life of Black Communist Claudia Jones (2008)Nós, mulheres negras estamos nas ruas para denunciar e combater o racismo e o sexismo estamos reafirmando a trajetória de luta de nossas ancestrais, mulheres que foram arrancadas de suas famílias, sociedades, culturas, modos de viver na África, mulheres que criaram um modo de vida neste continente chamado América.
—CMA Hiphop, “25 de Julho Dia da Mulher Negra da América Latina e do Caribe” (2008)
Introduction
The extent to which July 25, the Day of the Black Woman in Latin America and the Caribbean, has been celebrated since its creation in 1992 is difficult to document. Rarely is the date or its significance mentioned. And I am doubtful that state recognition of black women’s labor, politics, and cultures is possible, given that many Latin American expressions of public pride in black womanhood conjure up images of political subalterity, of feminist solidarity located on the fringes of black activism, and of desires of geographically boundless human dignities emerging from revolutionary ideals instead of the everyday realities of African descendant women. This essay is my attempt to reverse this tendency by restoring—rather than diminishing—the transnational black feminist possibilities in the Americas.
Black women have the poorest quality of life and the worst chances of survival, according to the human development indexes for Latin American nations, such as Brazil (Beato 2004; Lovell 1999; Lovell and Wood 1998). Yet this form of gendered racial class exclusion has inspired rather than hindered their ability to resist. Black women in Brazil, Colombia, Nicaragua, and elsewhere in the Americas share similar life experiences with racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia—all of which have led to shared political interests (Santos 2007; Safa 2006). For instance, when the marchers on July 25 shout, “Power to the black woman!” across Latin American cities, they mean to affirm a collective empowerment and to convey the urgency of political action both locally and globally. Political pessimism is not welcome.
This exploratory essay provides a brief reflection on the diasporic dimension of black women’s politics, specifically how black women in Latin America understand their experiences, identities, and social activism in relationship to other black women throughout the Americas. What interests me, in addition to the knowledge production and political organizing among black feminists in Latin America, are the various attempts at forming a transnational community of African descendant peoples in the anti-sexism and anti-racism struggle. Focusing on the politics of geographic difference shapes the formation of a black diasporic feminist agenda, specifically the ethics and politics of crossing Latin American borders. I reaffirm the idea that transnational frameworks and actions are integral to the black women-led social justice project.
