The central subject of the book is the conflict unleashed by the authorship of autobiographies written by people of African descent, enslaved in the Americas, during the 18th and 19th centuries. The book deals with the cases of three male and one female author whose testimonial narratives have been widely disseminated since they were written: Olaudah Equiano, Mary Prince, Juan Francisco Manzano and Mahomma Gardo Baquaqua.

The book analyzes the issue that, for centuries, the use of the "I" as the author's referential voice was a privileged entity through printed accounts elaborated by the protagonists themselves. It was also taken for granted that the rest of their lives only deserved to remain confined to strictly private spheres because they were considered empty, vulgar, irrelevant, worthy of little public attention.

Gerardo Cham holds a PhD in Discourse Analysis from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. He is a founding co-director of the María Sibylla Merian Center for Advanced Latin American Studies (CALAS). He works as a full professor at the University of Guadalajara. His research work focuses on aspects of racism, violence, discrimination and power in narratives of and about Afro-descendants, especially in Latin America. He is a member of the mexican Sistema Nacional de Investigadores, level II. As a literary writer he has published six novels.

The E-book will be available in early 2023.