Violências e construção de subjetividade em Estela sem Deus, de Jeferson Tenório

Abstract

Estela sem Deus, a novel by Jeferson Tenório, is a narrative written in the first person by the protagonist, Estela, a teenager whose story spans the period from ages thirteen to sixteen and takes place in the late 1980s. Estela is a Black girl who faces financial hardship alongside her family, causing abrupt changes in their lives: changes of address, routine, and well-being. Along this journey, she is also affected by violence stemming from racism and sexism, which seek to define and diminish her. Nevertheless, she has a strong drive to escape this restrictive place, as her dream is to become a philosopher. Based on this object of study, our aim was to analyze how the intersecting forms of racial, gender, and class violence are part of the character’s journey and whether they determine her trajectory. Furthermore, we sought to understand whether the forms of resistance developed by Estela result in a transgression of her condition, highlighting the importance of characters who directly influence her life, such as her father, mother, grandmother, and her friend Melissa. We also sought to develop a reflection on how philosophy and religion are presented in the work and how, from this perspective, the narrator-protagonist constructs her identity, telling her story through a set of reflections on her own experiences. The method chosen for the development of this research was that of Cultural Studies, based on the perspective of Ana Carolina Escosteguy (2000). The research combines literary analysis with social and historical studies. Several authors were highly relevant to enriching this work, such as Carla Akotirene (2019) and Grada Kilomba (2019), who theorize about intersectionality and the condition of Black women; Pierre Bourdieu, whose work Masculine Domination (2024 edition) discusses the mechanisms of power that keep women subordinated; Lélia Gonzalez (2020) and Sueli Carneiro (2011) discuss the social and class situation of Black women within a Brazilian context; Jan Assmann (2016) Aleida Assmann (2011), and Bernd e Soares (2016) address memory and heritage; Lúcia Chueire (2021) and Reginaldo Prandi (2001) clarify the origins and functioning of African-derived religions. Throughout the development of this text, we discuss the oppression imposed on Estela’s body and, conversely, her search not to be reduced to merely a body. Despite the abandonment she experiences—whether through her father’s absence or her mother’s emotional distance—the young woman seeks a space within herself where she is not solely a victim of what happens to her. In this process, she finds strength in the women who are part of her life to respond actively, and her challenge to a masculine and punitive God also becomes part of her process of liberation.