Black women and colonial legacies: an analysis of the Feira Preta

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to understand how the colonial dynamics that are expressed through patriarchy, race and class permeate Feira Preta through the afro-entrepreneurs that make up part of the event, exposing their products and services. In this way, we reflect from theoretical references on the colonial process, with the aim of elucidating the colonialist character of our socializations. As we opted for a qualitative methodology, in addition to bibliographic reviews, this article also counts. with the analysis of semi-structured interviews that were carried out in December 2019 with six Afro-entrepreneurs, on the 18th anniversary of Feira Preta. From the constructions made throughout the article, it was considered that no analysis of reality can be made without considering gender, race and class – specifically thinking about the world of work – and that these are legacies from the colonial period; furthermore, we noticed that the colonial dynamics are present in the reality of the afro-entrepreneurs through their speeches, and that in addition to afro-entrepreneurship being a way of survival for the black population, it is also a way of promoting African ancestry and culture.