Decolonizing the land, the body, the word

A reading of Caderno de memórias coloniais, by Isabela Figueiredo

Abstract

The article analyses the narrative Caderno de memórias coloniais, by Isabela Figueiredo, observing corporeality as the central axis. The reading key that highlights the body is explicit in the narration of the young Isabela who reviews the years she lived in Mozambique and how her father exercised colonial power, being the metonymic representation of Portuguese rule over the natives. Observing her own body, her parents’ bodies and the apparently submissive bodies of black men and women, the young woman contests colonialism, developing an ambiguous relationship with her father in which her affection for him and her rejection of what he represents come into play. In this domain of the body, colonialism and patriarchalism are associated, as systems of oppression. Through irony, the narrator-character exposes the brutal nature of Portuguese colonialism in Africa at the same time that she becomes aware of her body and its singularity, which also involves the exercise of writing.