The subjective impact of colonialism and racism on black female domestic workers

Abstract

The study, through bibliographical research, discusses an aspect little discussed when it comes to domestic work. We refer to the negative impacts that colonialism and racism produce on the subjectivity of domestic workers, who in Brazil are mostly black women. This is because this type of work has its roots in slave practices originating from colonialism and perpetuated by racism. The developed discussion especially emphasizes domestic workers whose work activities begin in childhood in the form of servitude, as the “offspring” of the family that benefits themselves from their work. It is concluded that the construction of their identities is crossed by the image that is socially constructed based on the work they perform, and which places them in a position of subalternity and inferiority.