Women’s Agency in the Discourse of Homemade Soap Recipes
Lúcia Gonçalves de Freitas

Abstract
This article presents a discourse analysis in the context of homemade soap recipes manufactured by women in the state of Goiás, Brazil. From a theoretical intersection between Critical Discourse Analysis and Women's Studies the article discusses female agency in a domestic activity that was introduced in Brazil in colonial times and is still alive in the so-called “modern” era. The aim of the study was to reflect on the relationship between this activity and the issues of female identity, subjection, submission and, at the same time, resistance to broader dynamics of power, such as patriarchy and capitalism. The results highlight the ambiguities of women’s agency, at the same time inserted in the relations of domesticity traditionally associated with the female condition and, on the other hand, breaking with the standards of femininity that support today's consumer system.

Full Text: PDF