Letter to my black mother: an essay on the encounter of epistemes and the condition of the black

Abstract

Written in the form of a letter, this essay offers a critical reflection on the tensions between academic knowledge and historically delegitimized ways of knowing, mobilized through the sense of estrangement experienced by Black students upon entering university. The Black mother evoked here does not refer to the figure discussed by Gilberto Freyre and Lélia Gonzalez in the context of Brazilian social formation. However, her agency and knowledge, as recognized by Gonzalez, permeate the entire essay. Because it takes the form of a letter, the essay adopts a dialogical, affective, and personal narrative. It is not, however, a particularized account; the mother — the addressee of the letter — is not specifically the author’s, although her presence composes this discursive image. Grounded in theoretical frameworks and lived experiences, the letter becomes a methodological tool to explore this encounter between epistemes. Inspired by the works of Frantz Fanon, Lélia Gonzalez, and Sueli Carneiro, the essay discusses the processes of subjectivation and the relations of domination embedded in the university experience, questioning the presumed neutrality of this field and the mechanisms that sustain knowledge hierarchies. The Black mother, far from being a passive recipient, assumes the role of critical interlocutor, whose insights and teachings expose the limitations of the academic ethos.