THE INDIVIDUALS IN THE SOCIETY OF EXCLUSION: THE FACES OF

POVERTY AND VIOLENCE IN CONCEIÇÃO EVARISTO AND DINA

SALÚSTIO'S SHORT STORIES

Marcos Vinicius Souza Silva

Supervisor: Rosangela Sarteschi

Faculty of Philosophy, Languages and Literature, and Human Sciences -

USP
e-mail: marcosviniciussouza@usp.br

Objectives
The research aimed to analyse the
ways in which social issues —
especially poverty and violence — are
represented in Watered Eyes (2014),
by Conceição Evaristo, and Mornas
were the nights (1994), by Dina
Salústio. Thus, it was intended to focus
on historically silenced and
marginalised individuals, bringing to the
fore themes such as the invisibilization
of blacks and the poor, processes of
oppression and their implications, social
hierarchies, and the effects and
repercussions of these conditions on
the literary aesthetics of the authors
targeted in this research. Focusing on
the individuals represented in the short
stories, their identities, experiences and
the way in which poverty and violence
directly affect their lives and their
destinies, the research in question also
aimed to reflect on the ways in which
literature works as a form of aesthetic
apprehension of reality, developing, in
the process, a critique of Brazilian and
Cape Verdean societies.
Materials and Methods
With regard to the methodology, a
comparative approach was chosen.
Comparativism makes it possible, as
Antonio Candido points out, to
understand literature as a consequence
of a dialectical relationship between
internal factors that structure the stories
and external, social and historical
factors. In the specific case of the short
stories studied in this research, it
consists of understanding how the
historical issues involving colonialism,
anticolonialism and postcolonialism act
(or not) in the literary production of
these subaltern individuals.
To this end, texts from literary theory
and comparative literature were
articulated together with studies from
other areas of knowledge, such as
Sociology, History and Anthropology.
The research was concerned with
carrying out a description and
panoramic analysis of the literary
production of the authors, thus enabling
the propagation of black authorship
productions and the expansion of
research in the field.
Results
As Fanon recalls, every colonial
process leaves deep marks on the
experiences of its peoples. Thus, it is
possible to observe such repercussions
in contemporary times in Cape Verde
and Brazil. That is, even after the
independence that occurred in very
different historical moments, the
colonial spoils reverberated in poverty,
hunger, misery and underdevelopment
in its various faces. Therefore,
Conceição Evaristo and Dina Salústio
bring to the centre of their aesthetic-
literary productions the voices
subordinated by these historical
processes, thus problematizing the
forms of representation of the past of
the individuals and bringing to light new
perspectives: the daily life of the black
population and poor is seen from the
periphery to the centre, not the other
way around. That is, as a form of
resistance to the hegemonic discourse,
with the writings of these authors, it is
possible to understand this reality and
conjuncture from the internal and
committed point of view, which involves
authorship, language and black
perspective.
Conclusions
Through the readings and analyses
carried out, we were able to observe a
gallery of individuals — men, women
and children — all involved in an
atmosphere of poverty, violence and
marginalisation. Therefore, we can say
that the stories make up a set of
narratives that explore the daily life,
experiences and subjectivities of
historically silenced black and poor
individuals. Furthermore, we were able
to demonstrate the ways in which social
criticism and social protest are
represented in the literary aesthetics of
the two authors.
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