Representations of female resilience in the trajectory of Cacica Taína in the work Anacaona: La Ultima Pincesa del Caribe (2017), by Jordi Díez Rojas

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The literary work Anacaona: la última princesa del Caribe (2017), by Jordi Díez Rojas (2017), addresses the theme of a chieftain woman from a Taina community, at the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century, in the region of Guanahaní – island named La Española by Christopher Columbus in 1492 –, territory that currently houses the nations of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. This female leader character, Anacaona, stands out for her pacifying attempts, but also fearless, for not being subordinated by the ideal of European colonization, especially the Spanish one. We aim to show how this character does not bend to the masculine figure, thus revealing her resilience. In this way, our article undertakes an analysis of the place of the woman who resists the subjugation of the feminine by the masculine, through the conditions of the indigenous people decimated of their territoriality, identity and human dignity, due to colonization. Anacaona stars the indigenous woman in her strength and fearless leadership, in a novel that addresses both the struggle and resistance of women and the affliction of the indigenous when being harshly colonized. To support our analysis, we rely on the theoretical assumptions of Dussel (1977), Federici (2017), Mignolo (2017), among others. We note that her fictional reconstruction in the literary work of Rojas (2017) attempts to combat, through literature, the univocal vision of traditional historiography recorded by European colonizers and to reconstruct the image of Anacaona as the resilient leader she was.

Keywords: Anacaona. Decolonization. Female resilience.