HISTORY AND MEMORY IN UM DEFEITO DE COR: A COUNTERCURRENT READING OF COLONIALISM IN BRAZIL

Abstract

This presented article proposes a reflection on colonial Brazil through the perspective of Kehinde, the protagonist of the historical novel Um defeito de cor, published in 2006 by Record. Kehinde lived until the age of eight in Savalu, present-day Benin, Africa. After a massacre that killed almost her entire family, including her grandmother and sister, she travels from city to city along the African coast and is eventually captured, thrown onto a slave ship bound for Brazil. The text will discuss how the condition of the diasporic subject can expose the power mechanisms that subjugate identities and define who is 'us' and 'them' in the construction of a national narrative. It also destabilizes an ideal of hegemony and exclusion, as this 'other' becomes part of the space idealized as 'ours.' The proposed text highlights the relevance of the work in discussions about history, culture, and memory, as it allows for a critical revision of the past by providing a reading of official historiography from a different perspective.