A favela epistolar ritual: from penpals to the awakening of our own narratives

Abstract

This article deals with the writing of myself immersed in an epistolary ritual within the favela territory. This handwriting act starts from correspondence exchanged with countless penpals willing to write letters throughout Brazil and the world. The process started around these narratives so that it showed my multiple selves and, from then on, I presented to the readers the place where I lived, what I really was/am and the people I lived with/live with and whom I wrote and lived with. This writing aimed to detach myself from the stereotypes created around the favela populations, especially with regard to the condition of Black women as an epistolary producer through the ages; evidencing the intersection of race, gender and class. Throughtout the article, other authors dialogue with me through their epistles in which we commit ourselves to our time and territory by noting the importance of these family´s or historical documents. Then, I start, from a writing of my subjectivity aiming at writings committed to the collective voice around the world.