Maya Angelou: gênero, autobiografia, violência e agenciamento em I know why the caged bird sings

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the genre autobiography, as an expression of the African American woman, in Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969). Theoretical perspectives focus on bio-bibliographical studies of the author, from a feminist point of view. In the first section, the autobiography genre is analyzed, having as main theorists Lejeune (2008) and Foucault (2002), and, from a feminist perspective, Smith & Watson (1992, 1998 and 2001) and Cosslett, Lury and Summerfield (2000). The second section focuses on the representation of violence against the African American woman in Maya Angelou’s book, whose analyses are supported mainly by the theories of hooks (1981 and 2000) and Grosz (1994). Agency is addressed in the third section, from the perspective of Bhabha (2010), Spivak (2010) and Butler (2008). As the context is related to post colonialism and multiculturalism, this paper discusses concepts by Hall (2006) and Bhabha (2010), as to cultural tensions issues. The conclusion points to the hybrid character of the genre autobiography and to the complexity of studying the writing of the black woman without falling into essentialist dichotomies. This matter is resolved with Spivak’s notion of strategic essentialism (2010).