Children's and Youth's Literature with black characters:

an afrocentric approach

Abstract

The main objective of the text is to analyze the representation of three female characters in short stories for children and young people, with an African theme. To this end, the book Ulomma - The House of Beauty and other tales, by the Nigerian writer Sunny and illustrated by Denise Nascimento, was chosen. It starts with the recognition of the importance of classic studies on fairy tales and children's literature, however the analysis presented assumes an Afrocentric perspective, seeking the importance of the word in African and Afro-Brazilian cultures, the role of narratives in African societies, where orality is a central element in the production and maintenance of the most diverse cultures, values, knowledge, science, history, ways of life, ways of understanding reality, religiosity, art and playfulness. The second point of analysis will be the representation of the female characters, being a block for each character. The analysis takes place both from the imagery point of view, as well as from the discursive construction via the plot of the narrative, aiming to locate in the stories the issue of female traditions and roles, motherhood, the relationships between human beings and nature, the sacred, relationships of power and mainly the black aesthetic valorization. The article ends with questions about the paths that the texts aimed at children and young people took to reach us, indicating that the need for construction and alternative routes for understanding them.