(Re)Claiming Body and Mind:Maternal Discourses and Black Female Sexuality in Gayl Jones's Corregidora

The corporeal, psychological, and sexual experiences of Black women constitute a critical site of intersectional analysis, where heteronormative, class-based, racial, and gendered systems of oppression converge. The reclamation of bodily autonomy and cognitive agency, alongside the reconstruction of sexual identity, necessitates Black women’s strategic negotiation of what Patricia Hill Collins terms the “matrix of domination.” Consequently, sexuality emerges as both a contested terrain and a locus of resistance, offering pathways toward individual and collective empowerment. Black women writers have consistently interrogated the complex negotiations inherent in simultaneously embodying the identities of “woman,” “Black,” and “American” across distinct historical epochs. This study, grounded in African American feminist theoretical frameworks, examines the pivotal role of historical narratives and maternal discourse in the construction of Black female sexual identity as depicted in Gayl Jones’ seminal novel Corregidora (1975). Through close textual analysis, this paper contends that protagonist Ursa Corregidora engages in a deliberate process of deconstructing the inherited maternal and historical narratives that have circumscribed Black women’s sexual agency. The analysis demonstrates how Ursa subsequently reconstructs her sexual identity through a dynamic interplay between three symbolic domains: the maternal body (womb), collective historical trauma, and the transformative power of Blues music as cultural expression. This triadic framework reveals the complex mechanisms through which Black women negotiate inherited trauma while asserting sexual autonomy and cultural identity.