XVII Congress of the Brazilian Studies Association

Black Female Domestic Workers Self-Narratives: 'Faxina Boa' and 'Ela é só Babá' in Brazilian Social Media

• In Event: Race, Gender, and Brazil's Labor Market

Abstract

This paper addresses how black female domestic workers in Brazil narrate domestic labor through self-representational stories in social media. I draw upon Bailey's concept of "digital alchemy" (2021) to examine how this group, who have historically lacked (self) representational agency in Brazilian media, can convert ordinary digital media into a potent tool for social justice. This study looks at the social media self-narratives produced between 2016 and 2022 in the accounts @faxinaboa ('good cleaning') and @elaensoababa ('she is just a nanny'). In the first account, Veronica Oliveira shares her experiences as a former faxineira (cleaning lady) who gained recognition by promoting her cleaning services through creative parodies of well-known movie posters. In the second one, Janaina Costa, recounts her journey as a nanny, a role she assumed at 14 hailing from a quilombola family (Afro-Brazilian residents of settlements first established by people escaping enslavement) where all the women work as domestic labourers. I argue that their self-narratives have provided a platform to achieve visibility, spark discussions and construct alternative meanings in opposition to dominant colonial and racialized gender discourse on domestic labor. This research engages with important current issues: domestic workers' growing claims for better work rights resonate with public debate around (post)colonial histories and legacies in Brazil. However, at the same time, many cases of domestic workers in work situations analogous to slavery have emerged, along with the weakening of the rights proposed by the PEC das Domésticas (EC 72/2013) and Lei Complementar 150/2015 (Brazil, 2015).

Author

• Francianne dos Santos Velho, Leiden University