On crypts and ghosts: trauma and testimony on African diaspora literatures

• Grant number: 11/20843-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: April 01, 2012
• End date: March 31, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Comparative Literature
• Principal Investigator: Benjamin Abdala Junior
• Grantee: Júlio Cesar Machado de Paula
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This project proposes the development of comparative studies on African diaspora literatures through a theoretical tool based on the concepts of trauma and testimony, with an emphasis on the "inner crypt theory" by Abraham and Torok (1995). It is assumed that such literatures, by spring up from traumatic events and drafting in a narrative form the repressed content, do it from a testimonial content able to give voice to what was silenced. To compose the literary corpus of research were defined three major thematic axes: 1) 'Slavery and nationality in 19th Century narratives': studies on the inclusion or concealment of black figures in the process of imagination of nationalities and national literatures in the middle of the 19th Century; 2) 'Between the line and the spectrum: the borders of color': studies on the constitution of a dividing line between white and colored people; 3) Slavery and genealogy: studies on the African genealogy as literary theme.