Memory, culture and identity: literary reading in promoting dialogues about diversity

Abstract

The colonial violence produced in the formation of Brazil normalized subjectivities that persist in the collective imagination of the Brazilian people. The imposition of ways of life as a black person was determined by the colonizer, however, this imposition has been reformulated by black people themselves who have taken possession of their narratives and their right to say what and how they are. Thus, this article aims to discuss the potential of literary reading of Afro-referenced narratives and how they contribute to the construction of positive memories. Conceptualizing literary reading, anti-racist and Afro-centric education, “deterritorialization” or “displacement” caused by the interrelationship with literature, based on studies by Petit (2013), Saldanha and Alencar (2022), Cuti (2010) and Carine (2023). Starting from the question “How does Afro-centric literary reading contribute to the construction of memories and identities based on dialogues about ethnic-racial belonging?”, we propose a systematization for reading mediation of the title Julian is a Mermaid, by the author Jessica Love. Methodologically, the research is defined as social, with an exploratory and descriptive design, using bibliographic research as a technical procedure, presenting the following sections: introduction; literary reading and the displacement of the self; the mediation of the literary text in the construction of memory and identity; the potentialities in Julian is a mermaid and possible conclusions. The conclusion is that literary reading is a latent vehicle that promotes dialogues on the relationship between memory and identity, affirming the plurality and potential of being and existing as a black person and broadening the ethical and aesthetic repertoires of readers who embark on narratives that transgress colonial hegemony.