Nation, narrative and traumatic memory: towards a deconstruction of the Afrodiasporic trajectory in the novel Os Pretos de Pousaflores (2023) by Aida Gomes
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12957/palimpsesto.2025.90169Keywords:
Afrodiasporic literature, postcolonial, memory studies, narratological studies, feminist studiesAbstract
The present work aims to deconstruct the narrative of Aida Gomes's novel Os Pretos de Pousaflores (2023) through a postcolonial perspective, examining fundamental issues present in the work, such as the Nation-state, narrative and traumatic memories. Grounded in postcolonial studies, memory studies, narratology and feminisms – particularly in the theories of Homi Bhabha (2005), Pierre Nora (2012), Ruth Page (2006), Walter Benjamin (1987) and Paul Ricoeur (2012) – this article seeks to highlight the aesthetic, sociological and historiographical values of the novel. Thus, it intends to contribute to the visibility of Portuguese-language Afrodiasporic literature and stimulate broader reflections on pressing themes in contemporary public debate, centered on displacement, immigration and diaspora.
Downloads
References
BENJAMIN, Walter. O Narrador. Considerações obre a obra de Nikolai Leskov. In: BENJAMIN, Walter. Obras Escolhidas. Magia e Técnica, Arte e Política. Ensaios sobre Literatura e História da Cultura. Tradução: Sergio Paulo Rouanet. 3. ed. São Paulo: Editora Brasiliense, 1987, p. 197-221.
BENJAMIN, Walter. Sobre o conceito de história. In: BENJAMIN, Walter. Obras Escolhidas. Magia e Técnica, Arte e Política. Ensaios sobre Literatura e História da Cultura. Tradução: Sergio Paulo Rouanet. 3. ed. São Paulo: Editora Brasiliense, 1987, p. 222-235.
BHABHA, Homi. O Local da Cultura. Tradução: Myriam Ávila et al. 3. ed. Belo Horizonte: Editora UFMG, 2005.
BUTLER, Judith. Gender Trouble: Feminism and The Subversion of Identity. London; New York: Routledge, 1990.
CARDOSO, Bárbara Chaves. As múltiplas vozes do deslocamento . Palimpsesto - Revista do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras da UERJ, [S. l.], v. 23, n. 45, p. 542–547, 2024. DOI: 10.12957/palimpsesto.2024.80688. Disponível em: https://www.e-publicacoes.uerj.br/palimpsesto/article/view/80688. Acesso em: 25 fev. 2025.
GARRAIO, Júlia. Framing Sexual Violence in Portuguese Colonialism: On Some Practices of Contemporary Cultural Representation and Remembrance. Violence Against Women, California, v. 25, n. 13, p. 1558-1577, 2019. DOI: 10.1177/1077801219869547. Acesso em: 25 fev. 2025.
GEORGE, João Pedro. O Império às Costas: Retornados, racismo e pós-colonialismo. Lisboa: Editora Estampa, 1986, 2Vols.
GOMES, Aida. Os Pretos de Pousaflores. 1. ed. São Paulo: Editora Funilaria, 2023.
GOMES, Aida. “A palavra nómada”. Entrevista a Aida Gomes. Portuguese Literary & Cultural Studies (PLCS), North Dartmouth, Massachusetts, v. 40/41, 28 mar. 2024. P. 41-53. Entrevista concedida a Doris Wieser.
IRIGARAY, Luce. This Sex Which Is Not One. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985.
KRISTEVA, Julia. Women’s Time. Tradução: Alice Jardine; Harry Blake. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, Chicago, v. 7, n. 1, p. 13-35, 1981.
MIGNOLO, Walter. Delinking. The rhetoric of modernity, the logic of coloniality and the grammar of de-coloniality. Cultural Studies, London, v. 21, n. 2, p. 449–514, 2007.
NORA, Pierre. Entre Memória e História. A problemática de lugares. Tradução: Yara Aun Khoury. Projeto História, São Paulo, v. 10, p. 7-28, dez. 1993.
PAGE, Ruth. Literary and Linguistic Approaches to Feminist Narratology. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.
RIBEIRO, António Sousa. Memória. In: ROSSA, Walter; RIBEIRO, Margarida (org.). Patrimónios de Influência Portuguesa: Modos de olhar. Coimbra: Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra, 2015, p. 81-94.
RIBEIRO, Margarida Calafate. A Casa da Nave Europa – miragens ou projeções pós-coloniais?. In: RIBEIRO, António; RIBEIRO, Margarida (org.). Geometrias da Memória: Configurações pós-coloniais. Porto: Edições Afrontamento, 2016, p. 15-42.
RICOEUR, Paulo. A marca do passado. Tradução: Breno Mendes et al. História da Historiografia, Ouro Preto, n. 10, p. 329-349, dez. 2012.
TAVARES, Ana Paula. Prefácio, por Ana Paula Tavares. In: GOMES, Aida. Os Pretos de Pousaflores. São Paulo: Editora Funilaria, 2023, p. 8-13.
WIESER, Doris. The Frizzy Hair of the Retornados: “Race” and gender in literature on mixed-race identities in Portugal. In: PERALTA Elsa (ed.). The Retornados from the Portuguese Colonies in Africa. Memory, Narrative, and History. London; New York: Routledge, 2022, p. 150-170.
WITTIG, Monique. The Straight Mind and Other Essays. Boston: Beacon Press, 1992.
ZIMERMAN, David. Psicanálise em Perguntas e Respostas – Verdades, Mitos e Tabus. Porto Alegre: Editora Artmed, 2005.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Palimpsesto journal publishes original articles and reviews in the field of Literature, Language and Linguistics. We also publish mixed and/or thematic issues, with articles and reviews in Portuguese, English, Spanish, and French.
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right of its first publication, with the work simultaneously licensed under Creative Commons Attributions License, which allows sharing of the work with an acknowledgement of authorship and initial publication in this journal.
Palimpsesto uses a Creative Commons - Atribuição-NãoComercial 4.0 Internacional license.
