Abstract

This thesis examines the feminist literary traditions of Portugal and Cape Verde through a comparative analysis of Ana de Castro Osório’s Infelizes and Dina Salústio’s Mornas eram as noites. Separated by nearly nine decades and an ocean, these two works nonetheless converge in their insistence on women’s autonomy, bodily sovereignty, and resistance to patriarchal structures. Drawing on Hélène Cixous’s theory of écriture féminine and Kimberlé Crenshaw’s framework of intersectionality, this thesis argues that despite the significant differences in time, geography, and socio-political context that separate these authors, powerful threads of feminist consciousness bind their writing together. At the same time, the distance between them is not incidental, it is illuminating. Salústio’s work, rooted in the postcolonial Cape Verdean context of the late twentieth century, reflects the progression of feminist theory toward a more expansive and inclusive vision, one that centers the experiences of Black and African women and challenges the western narratives that have long dominated feminist discourse. By placing these two authors in dialogue, this thesis contributes to an ongoing project of literary decolonization—expanding the feminist canon beyond its Eurocentric borders and insisting on the plurality, richness, and global reach of women's writing.

Degree

College and Department

Humanities; Spanish and Portuguese

Rights

https://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/