Análise da ancestralidade no romance The Salt Roads, de Nalo Hopkinson

Abstract

This work has as its central theme ancestry in black female literature, based on the analysis of the novel The Salt Roads, by the Afro-Caribbean writer Nalo Hopkinson(2003). The research is based on the understanding that black women's writing is a space of resistance, memory and reconstruction, and seeks to reflect on how ancestry acts as a symbolic, spiritual and political link in the trajectory of three black characters: Mer, Thais and Jeanne. The proposal is based on the literary analysis of the novel, considering ancestry as a theoretical and affective axis. The study contextualizes black female literature and Afro-Caribbean literature, addressing the marks of colonization, diaspora and spirituality as pillars of these productions. The objectives are to discuss the roots of black female writing, analyze Hopkinson's work in the context of Afrofuturist and decolonial literature, and examine how the spiritual entity Lasirén connects the experiences of the characters, permeating them with elements of healing, resistance and re-enchantment. This is a qualitative study with a bibliographic and interpretative approach, based on the studies of authors such as bell hooks(2019), Grada Kilomba(2019), Angela Davis(2016), Audre Lorde(1984), and Conceição Evaristo(2020), as well as thinkers such as Stuart Hall(2003). The method of analysis is based on a critical reading of the novel and the intersection of theoretical perspectives on ancestry, spirituality, the black body, orality and feminine epistemologies of resistance. As a result, we observe that ancestry in The Salt Roads does not manifest itself in a static or symbolic way, but as a living energy that traverses body, time, territory and language. Mer, Thais and Jeanne experience ancestry through their pain and ruptures, but also through the spiritual presence of Lasirén, who acts as a guide, collective memory and force of recomposition. The conclusion indicates that Nalo Hopkinson's work, by intertwining spirituality and narrative, reaffirms the importance of black-feminine literature as an instrument of resistance, memory and freedom.