Maryse Condé (1934–2024), born in Guadeloupe, grew up in a context marked by slavery, yet received a bourgeois education. In Paris, she became involved in Marxism and in the Négritude movement, which defended the dignity of Black people, and faced numerous personal challenges. At the age of 42, she began her literary career. Author of more than twenty novels, she gained worldwide recognition. In 2018, she was awarded the Alternative Nobel Prize in Literature.
I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem (1986) begins with the rape of Tituba’s mother, Abena, a young African woman captured by slave traders. The novel, which brings the dehumanization and brutality of colonialism to the forefront, includes multiple scenes of physical and sexual assault, as well as more subtle forms of violence. Through the life of Tituba, an enslaved woman accused of witchcraft in the 17th century, the text denounces both the violence suffered by Black women and the institutionalized violence of colonialism. Condé challenges structures of power and oppression, exposing the values of a colonial and puritanical society that, beneath the veneer of civilization and religion, perpetuated atrocities. Her ability to address such complex themes with humor, irony, and a critical eye makes her works powerful not only as historical testimony but also as critiques of racism and sexism, which remain all too present today.