As marcas da tradição oral nas narrativas cabo-verdianas antes e após independência

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze the marks of oral tradition in Cape Verdean narratives produced before and after the country's independence, with emphasis on the works O Escravo (1856), by José Evaristo de Almeida; Chiquinho (1947), by Baltasar Lopes; and Os Flagelados do Vento Leste (1960), by Manuel Lopes. Based on the assumption that orality constitutes a form of cultural resistance and a structuring basis of Cape Verdean identity, the research seeks to understand how this dimension manifests itself in literature and how it dialogues with the historical and social transformations of Cape Verde. The analysis is based on a qualitative, bibliographical and interpretative approach, supported by authors such as Paul Zumthor (1993), Walter Benjamin (1994), Maurice Halbwachs (1990), Pierre Nora (1984), Michel Foucault (2021), Gayatri Spivak (2010), Stuart Hall (2003), Walter Mignolo (2003) and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (2009), among others. Such references provide support for understanding orality as discourse, memory and instrument of identity construction. As a continuation of post-colonial debates, this research shows that Cape Verdean literature does not break with orality after independence, but resignifies it, maintainingit as a link betweentradition andmodernity. The worksanalyzed demonstratethat orality is not limited to style, but structures the narrative, constitutes collective memory andgives voiceto historically silenced subjects.