Rota maritima do último navio negreiro: as cartas de Fradique Mendes

Abstract

Considering the importance of literature for the rewriting of histories and memories of colonized peoples, in this work we study the book Nação Crioula by José Eduardo Agualusa in order to analyze the history of the slave trade from Angola to Brazil. We try to observe Fradique Mendes’ letters thinking about the impacts of colonialism in our current society in order to bring reflections about the gaps in the stories told by those who have always been in power and about the violence that goes through the construction of the identities of African people. From the focus of Comparative Literature we approach the literary work closer to the historical context at the time of the narrative and to our own, in order to understand the colonizing processes and the power relations that have been strengthened since the colonial period and the construction of the identities of the people who made the forced transit across the Atlantic. To this end, we will dialogue with Postcolonial Studies, especially Linda Hutcheon's reflections on historiographical metafiction and Paul Gilroy's diaspora. Our objective is to contribute so that the colonizing processes still so present in our current context may be reviewed and weakened.