Open AccessSounds of Portuguese democracy: “Pretugal” as a contemporary reality
Author(s) -
Patrícia Martinho Ferreira
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
eutomia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1982-6850
DOI - 10.51359/1982-6850.2019.244667
Subject(s) - portuguese , empire , agency (philosophy) , democracy , representation (politics) , contemporary society , sociology , art history , gender studies , aesthetics , history , art , political science , politics , social science , philosophy , law , linguistics
In this essay I analyze, within the conceptual framework of Sound Studies, the role of the aural dimension of the Portuguese postcolonial experience in contemporary fiction, specifically in the novels O meu nome é Legião by António Lobo Antunes (2007), Os Pretos de Pousaflores by Aida Gomes (2011) and Esse Cabelo by Djaimilia Pereira de Almeida (2015). In each of these works, the aurality — what is heard and/or what is not heard — strongly denounces the blind spots of post-1974, democratized Portuguese society. One of these blind spots has to do with the representation of racial differences and, in particular, the obstacles that African descendants need to overcome in an attempt to find their own space and agency. The fiction of these three contemporary writers emphasizes two relevant themes in Portuguese society: the end of the colonial empire and structural racism.