The Brazilian Case: Towards a Paradigm of Trans‑Colonial Studies

Authors

  • Ewa Łukaszyk University of Warsaw

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12797/Politeja.12.2015.38.13

Keywords:

Brazil, post‑colonial studies, trans‑colonial studies, cultural distinctiveness

Abstract

The aim of this article is to discuss the limited applicability of the “standard” post‑colonial method in the analysis of the Brazilian literature and culture. A new, trans‑colonial paradigm is proposed instead, focusing on emerging idiosyncrasies rather than on the process of critical deconstruction of the European discourses and ideologies. In a comparative perspective confronting the studied case with other situations in the world, the article presents particular circumstances that shaped the trans‑colonial pattern of development of the Brazilian culture. The factors and phenomena taken into the account are: the proportions of economic and cultural strength between the colony and its metropolis, the dynamics of the identity search that followed the moment of formal independence, the peculiarity related to the predominance of a non‑printed (oral or handwritten) culture and finally the emergence of cultural distinctiveness alien to Eurocentric canons.

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Author Biography

Ewa Łukaszyk, University of Warsaw

(born in 1972) – professor at the interdisciplinary Faculty of “Artes Liberales”, University of Warsaw. Author of several books on Portuguese and Lusophone literature, such as Współczesna proza portugalska (“Contemporary Portuguese Prose”, 2000), Terytorium a świat. Wyobrażeniowe konfiguracje przestrzeni w literaturze portugalskiej od schyłku średniowiecza do współczesności (“The Territory and the World. Imaginary Configurations of Space in the Portuguese Literature from the End of the Middle Ages till the Contemporary Period”, 2003) and a monograph on the novelistic work of José Saramago, Pokusa pustyni.Nomadyzm jako wyjście z kryzysu współczesności w pisarstwie José Saramago (“Temptation of the Desert. Nomadism as a Solution of the Contemporary Crisis in the Novelistic Works of José Saramago”, 2005). Her research concerning the history of Brazilian literature resulted in the co-authorship of Historia literatur iberoamerykańskich (“History of Latin American Literature”, 2010).

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Published

2015-10-27

How to Cite

Łukaszyk, Ewa. 2015. “The Brazilian Case: Towards a Paradigm of Trans‑Colonial Studies”. Politeja 12 (6 (38):181-94. https://doi.org/10.12797/Politeja.12.2015.38.13.

Issue

Vol. 12 No. 6 (38) (2015): Europe-Latin America Cultural Encounters

Section

Articles

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