The black woman as “other from the other”: intersections between gender and race in Grada Kilomba and Lélia Gonzalez

Abstract

This paper aims to discuss, within the field of political philosophy, the invisibility of black women in society, demonstrating how this erasure is historically reproduced and reinforces the structures of oppression observed nowadays. Such problematization is based on the theoretical contributions of Grada Kilomba and Lélia Gonzalez, on how they approach the problem of black women in a structure that is at the same time racist and sexist. Through literature review, we investigate how Kilomba analyzes the interconnection between gender and race for the construction of the role of black women according to the colonial dynamics, and how Gonzalez criticizes the racism and sexism in Brazilian culture as the result of the slavery heritage that is projected as denial. Considering these two perspectives, we highlight the importance of the intersection between gender and race for theories and practices that aim at an effectively democratic, anti-sexist and anti-racist society.