‘Dispute the nega’: an analysis of the popular expression from the perspective of studies of gender, speech, race and social class

Abstract

This article aims to discuss the expression ‘dispute the nega’ - which is part of the cultural universe of many regions of Brazil and constitutes social practices in contexts of competition in different games - from the perspective of studies of gender, discourse, race and social class. For this purpose, we theoretically focus on authors who problematize gender relations in an intersectional perspective, highlighting other dimensions that permeate this category, such as race, class, sexuality, ethnicity, etc. The studies of Angela Davis (2016) and Heleieth Saffioti (2013) on gender, race and class, and Norman Fairclough's (1998; 2001; 2003) works on discourse, among others, are brought to the theoretical scene. We intend, with this, using as a tool of analysis the principles of Critical Discourse Analysis - ADC (FAIRCLOUGH, 2001, 2003; VIEIRA; RESENDE, 2016; MAGALHÃES, 2000), to unveil the ideological discourses that underlie the expression ‘dispute the nega’, as well as understand its cultural and historical roots, once the person who is the object of the dispute is a black woman whose body is offered as a prize to the winner, thus being objectified, subordinated and instrumentalized, following the logic of a patriarchal society in which the woman's body, and the black woman’s in particular, is used primarily and essentially to serve men in their physical and emotional needs. In this study, we are guided by the butlerian conception of gender, as we agree that the constitution of this category occurs through cultural and social confrontations reiterated daily by discursive practices. In other words, it is about the preponderance of the discourse in the constitution of the subjects, given that we are constituted from the other. When proposing the study of expression in emphasis in the perspective of intersectional analysis (SCOTT, 1994; BUTLER, 2016; DAVIS, 2016) we realize that the intersectionality of gender permeated by other social markers puts on evidence female subordination, since the category woman, especially the black and poor, remains, even today, in a condition of objectification, marginalization and subordination in society.