A representação do sonho americano e o trabalho migrante das personagens afro-diaspóricas em Lucy e “No Seu Pescoço”

Abstract

The present Undergraduate Thesis, titled “The Representation of the American Dream and the Migrant Labor in Lucy and ‘The Thing Around Your Neck’”, analyzes the journeys of the protagonists Lucy in Jamaica Kincaid's novel and Akunna in Chimamanda Adichie's short story, and their migrations to the United States. Leaving their countries in the Global South, the characters search to reach the utopian American Dream and socioeconomic equity, distanced from their geopolitical spaces by the remnants of imperialist structures. However, upon arriving in the new country, they are exposed to the scenario of subalternization applied to Afro-diasporic bodies based on the categories of race, class, gender and origin, highlighting how the practice of oppression is even more constant in their workplaces. By emphasizing the historical process of othering Black diasporic women, the research proposes to investigate their resistance against the exploration of their labor force and their quest to assert and defend their identity. Grounded in the theoretical frameworks of Davis, Kilomba, hooks, Quijano, Anzaldúa, Hall and Hill Collins, this literary analysis is further emphasized within the concepts of othering, coloniality of power, and borderlands. It aims to prove the acts of self-affirmation from the protagonists, amidst recurring attempts at their inferiorization.