A saga de uma Macabéa: corpo e trabalho feminino na indústria de beneficiamento de castanha de caju no Ceará

Abstract

The present dissertation analyzes the relationship between female body and work at the cashew industry in Fortaleza, Ceará – Brazil. The data were taken from testimonies of “castanheiras” women who live in the outskirts of Fortaleza. These women are single mothers and/ or head of their families. Also called “Macabéas”, they tell the story of their daily lives set not only by poor work conditions but also urban and domestic violence. In contrast, these women are subject of their own stories, writing their own saga resulting from a lot of work and resistance. Being a technical assistant of the Labor Party of Cashew Industry, activist, and feminist led me to this field of study. In order to collect data, I arranged interviews, lived with informants on a daily basis, and conducted some research at the Labor Party. The research shows that the female factory workers are still undergoing exploitation, being characterized by the hegemonic capitalist system reinforced by a discourse between capital, gender and work. Linked to these issues, the “Macabéas” of this research are women that have fun, play, tell anecdotes about their lives with pain and anguish, but with a dose of happiness for being able to survive. What type of women are these? What kind of factory is this? What types of resistances are these that are able to help them overcome a circle of exploitation, control and discipline, which may seem insurmountable? To sum up, the current study shows ways that avoid seeing these female workers from a reductionism point of view which considers them as eternal victims and/ or robots without desires, will and pleasure