Part of Series
The instant bestseller from Djamila Ribeiro that sparked a major Black feminist movement in Brazil In a society shaped by the legacies of enslavement, white supremacy, and sexism, who has the right to a voice? In this elegant essay, Djamila Ribeiro offers a compelling intervention into contemporary discussions of power and identity: the concept of "speaking place." A crucial component of conversations on race and gender in Brazil, speaking place is the idea that everyone has a social position in the world, and what we are able to say, and how it is received by others, depends on it. Ribeiro highlights the precarious position of the Black woman as “the other of the other”—located on the margins of conversations about race, which often focus on men, and on the fringes of feminism, which centers white women. Tracing the history of Black feminist thought through several centuries, she examines the ways that Black women have been silenced, ignored, and punished for speaking. Building on feminist standpoint theory, and in conversation with the works of Sojourner Truth, bell hooks, Audre Lorde, and others, Ribeiro invites all of us to recognize where we stand, to imagine geographies different from those we’ve inherited, and to speak a more humane world into being.
Author
Djamila Taís Ribeiro dos Santos is a Brazilian feminist and academic. She graduated in Philosophy from the Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp), in 2012, and became a Master in Political Philosophy at the same institution in 2015, with an emphasis on Feminist Theory. In 2005, she interrupted a degree in Journalism. His main activities are in the themes: Race and Gender Relations and Feminism. He is an online columnist for CartaCapital, Blogueiras Negras and Revista Azmina and has a strong presence in the digital environment, confirmed by his belief in the importance of appropriating the internet as a tool in the militancy of black women, and, according to Djamila, the "hegemonic media "tends to make them invisible. In May 2016, she was appointed Assistant Secretary for Human Rights and Citizenship in the city of São Paulo during the term of Mayor Fernando Haddad. He wrote the preface to the book "Women, Race & Class" by the black and feminist philosopher Angela Davis, which until then was an unprecedented work in Brazil and which was translated and released in September 2015. She constantly participates in events, documentaries and other actions involving race and gender debates. She is the author of works that are a reference in the feminist and anti-racist struggle, such as "Who's Afraid of Black Feminism?" and "Small Anti-Racist Handbook", and "What is a Place of Speech?" and published, together with the author and Phd in Philosophy and Law Silvio Almeida, "What is Structural Racism?". All works originally published in Portuguese.
