Reconstrução do ser negro: mem(Órí)as e histórias em O(s) crime(s) do Cais do Valongo, de Eliana Alves Cruz

Abstract

This dissertation examines issues related to the ideas of archive and memory of both the enslaved black body and the nineteenth-century city of Rio de Janeiro, portrayed in the novel O crime do Cais do Valongo, by Eliana Alves Cruz. The analysis of the work is based on the black protagonism obtained by assuming the voice of the narrative itself and revealing that which official history has purposely omitted. In parallel, a comparison is made between the written and historical cities, mediated by the sharing of experiences anchored in black bodies. Based on Stuart Hall, Amadou Hampâté Bá, and Frantz Fanon, among other authors, the reconstruction of the African, who had to remake itself, since the crossing, to be reborn in the diaspora, is sought. To this end, the intersection between literature and history present in the plot creates new possibilities for revisiting the Valongo region, currently recognized as a symbol of African heritage and a place of sensitive memory.