Education and identity construction of the central character of the novel Estela sem Deus by Jeferson Tenório

Abstract

This article presents an analysis of the novel Estela sem Deus, by the author Jeferson Tenório (2022), in which the aim was to demonstrate how educational experiences and the construction of identity serve as pillars capable of altering the ‘exorcism’ imposed on the Black female body. In this production, we aim to recognize how a literary work, the fictional narrative in the first person of a teenager, exposed to various vulnerabilities and, because of them, to constant migrations, creates and reveals meanings of the relationship between the body and the Black women in Brazilian society in the early 1990s. As theoretical contributions, this study is based on several theoretical texts that discuss the social receptivity of the Black body; the problem of identity in the 20th century; issues related to feminism and the female gender; the philosophy of difference, using literary representation as an example. Furthermore, it also examines contemporary Brazilian literature that addresses marginalized bodies and heterotopias, highlighting the importance of bringing these literary works into the debate and thus building a new school curriculum that provides visibility and representation for Black women in Brazil. Finally, this work presents an analysis that aimed to ground its arguments in the exploration and interpretation of Jeferson Tenório's literary work, in his work Estela sem Deus (2022), and to observe how literature problematizes the identity of Black women in Brazil and the role of education in the formation of female subjectivation.