Maternal Resistance to the Violence of Slavery through the Law of the Free Womb: Critical Fabulation in Afuera crece un mundo by Adelaida Fernández Ochoa
No. 21 (2025-11-12)Author(s)
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Liseth Espindola RamirezUniversidad de California, Riverside, Estados Unidos.
Abstract
This article presents a critical review of testimonies relat- ed to the Law of the Free Womb preserved in Colombia’s National Archives, analyzing how women reclaimed the right to motherhood and secured a degree of freedom for their children. Employing Saidiya Hartman’s methodology of critical fabulation, it establishes a dialogue between these archival records and Adelaida Fernández Ochoa’s novel Afuera crece un mundo, whose narrative provides a key tool for exploring the archive and rendering audible stories that are “buried” by its structure. The analysis highlights the resistance of these mothers, rejecting their exclusive definition through violence and emphasizing their agency in contexts of oppression. This approach offers an alternative way to construct memory and challenge traditional narratives of slavery in Colombia.
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