O silêncio como resistência em Ponciá Vicêncio de Conceição Evaristo

Abstract

This essay examines the use of silence as a symbolic, thematic, and stylistic tool employed by Afro-Brazilian writer Conceição Evaristo in Ponciá Vicêncio (2003), within the larger context of the literature written by black women. Focusing on Ponciá, a sculptor who is evasive and emotionally absent, the novel presents narrative gaps and ruptures that foreground silence. Building on theoretical works that examine the role of silence in subaltern discourse, this essay demonstrates how Evaristo transforms silence into an empowering tool that highlights the systematic erasure of black female subjectivity from Brazilian history and literature. In Ponciá Vicêncio, Evaristo makes use of silence to denounce the adverse living conditions of Afro-Brazilians, more specifically their daily, albeit often invisible, reality of exploitation, injustice, and resistance.