MARIA ALTAMIRA: A STORY OF EVICTION IN LATIN AMERICA

Abstract

The present essay brings together the novel Maria Altamira, by Maria José Silveira, and the history of Latin America propelled by colonization. Our goal is to discuss some crucial topics for a historiographic analysis of the continent in the last decades, highlighting the military dictatorships, the planned environmental catastrophes and the eviction of native population, as well as the various resistance strategies taken by marginalized groups. We also aim to analyze how the choice for women as protagonists integrates specific elements in the debates of violence and eviction. Female bodies are submitted to particular forms of abuse which mobilizes an integrated discussion of gender, ethnicity and class. Considering this, we focus on exploring some moments of Latin American literary historiography, targeting comparative analysis that considers literature in its cultural aspects. We thus take Latin America as a concept violently imposed by colonization, but also as a symbol for resistance and as an alternative proposition for the relationship among nations.