Racist Literary Devices in Canonical Brazilian Literature and Strategies to Rebel Against Them

ABSTRACT

The Brazilian nation gained its independence amid colonial rivalry when the call to end slavery was linked to the battle for new markets and more resources. Not coincidentally, there was broad, global adherence to a racist understanding of humanity which justified the European invasions. The racial conceptions of the time contaminated the works of the Brazilian romantic literary circle that sought to unite its country using diverse literary strategies. One of the principal devices used was the miscegenation of their characters, while at the same time exalting white achievement and qualities, contributing to the edification of white privilege. This paper analyzes the development of these literary devices from the romantic period, culminating with a comparison of Jorge Amado’s Tent of Miracles (1969) and Ana Maria Gonçalves’s A Color Defect (2007) in the postmodern period.

Keywords:
White Privilege; Racism; Brazilian Literature; Canonical Literature; Black Brazilian Literature