UNVEILING SILENCES

Stories and resistance of peripheral black women

Abstract

The article conceptually addresses the silencing of Black women in society, focusing on the experiences of peripheral Black girls and women, whose stories are often invisibilized, disregarded, and deemed unworthy of being narrated, lived, or heard. This qualitative study employs Conceição Evaristo's “escrevivência” as a method to access the voices and lived experiences of nine peripheral Black girls, aged between 12 and 15, residing in the São Pedro community in Vitória-ES, exploring their dreams and daily struggles against structural racism. The central objective is to understand how silence has historically been imposed on Black voices, particularly those of women, and the impacts of this process on their narratives and social representations. To achieve this, the study seeks to break rooted silences, bring these experiences to light, share their stories, and analyze forms of resistance and dreams that shape their journeys. Theoretical references from Grada Kilomba, Audre Lorde, and Lélia Gonzalez highlight the importance of speech and enunciation as tools to confront the control and censorship that sustain the invisibility and dehumanization of Black people. The text concludes by emphasizing the urgency of confronting fear and silence, promoting the amplification of Black voices, particularly those of women, and encouraging them to share their stories from their own perspectives. Furthermore, it challenges the power structures that perpetuate silencing, advocating for the appreciation and visibility of Black narratives as an essential part of social transformation.