Tired Carolina shouts unsubmissively

Abstract

It is essential to inscribe on every wall that we encounter that literature can only fulfill its humanizing function if we critically engage with authorship. We must address the racist, misogynistic, and capitalist structure that determines who can speak and which discourses are valued (CARNEIRO, 2019; KILOMBA, 2019). According to Kilomba, the authorization of voices is a colonial mechanism, and the path to the decolonization of knowledge begins by identifying where coloniality resides. In Casa de alvenaria by Carolina Maria de Jesus, we explore the author’s relationship with literature, analyzing excerpts where she reflects on her own position within the literary field. This article approaches the text from a decolonial and intersectional perspective, focusing on the 60-year gap between its editions (1961 and 2021) and comparing their prefaces. We utilize intersectionality to analyze the oppressions embedded in literary discourses and the occupation of social spaces. By examining Carolina’s expressions of fatigue and frustration with the editorial market, we argue that her criticisms represent a decolonial gesture that exposes the coloniality inherent in the literary marketplace and the institutionalization of the literary canon. We aim to contribute to the growing body of voices that challenge the coloniality embedded in the discourses shaping oppression, so that the presumed scientific validity of these structures can be contested and the occupation of spaces for meaning-making becomes increasingly diverse and horizontal.