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Postcolonialism and the Feminine in Paulina Chiziane’s O alegre canto da perdiz



Author(s)

Algemira de Macedo Mendes Aurea Regina do Nascimento Santos

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DOI:10.17265/2159-5836/2016.07.004

State University of Piauí, Teresina, Brazil Federal Institute of Piauí, Teresina, Brazil

In this study we present the novel O alegre canto da perdiz (2008), by Paulina Chiziane, focusing on the path of the characters Delfina and Maria das Dores, pointing to the construction of a female speech denouncing the state to which the Mozambican woman was subjected, especially during colonization, a trauma still present in Africa. By telling the saga of these two women (mother and daughter), the novel also makes a reinterpretation of the origin and history of the peoples of Africa. Beyond the issues that mark the secular submission of women to the world of man in certain African societies, Paulina Chiziane also leads us to confront the issue of reductionism practiced by those who look from outside Africa and seeks to present its history and its literature as if the African continent were a single country, as reported by the Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Adichie in her speech against “the danger of listening and repeating a single story, the winners’ story” (Adichie, 2009). We aim to identify aspects of the unique feminine of Paulina Chiziane by rescuing legends of matriarchy in the course of the characters. We will also do a reading of colonialism and post-colonialism objectifying the female of writing Paulina Chiziane. The critical placement of the text allows us to analyze it with the contribution of Spivak (2010), Said (1978), Bonnici (2000), among others.

Paulina Chiziane, O alegre canto da perdiz, post-colonialism, feminine