Date of Award
2009
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Program
Hispanic Studies
Supervisor
Dr. Rafael Montano
Abstract
The research problem in question is how African cultural memory is conveyed through Angolan and Afro-Brazilian poetry throughout the mid-to-late twentieth century. The socially constructed term ‘Mother Africa’ has been utilized as a cultural symbol of this memory. Collective memory theory, collective identity theory, cultural trauma theory, and Benedict Anderson’s theory on Imagined Communities are utilized in order to show how such symbols provide primordial-based sources for identity construction, belonging, and social cohesion. The analysis also reveals that such affiliations are consciously chosen by individuals within the African Diaspora who look to their slave history as a reference point for individual and national identities. The elected Angolan poets include Mario Antonio, Antonio Jacinto, Aires de Almeida Santos, Alda Lara, Agostinho Neto, and Viriato da Cruz. From Brazil the poets include: Solano Trindade, Lepe Correia, Oswaldo de Camargo, Jose Carlos de Andrade, Luis Silva, and Edimilson de Almeida Pereira
Recommended Citation
Paylor, Kiara M., "A QUESTION OF REMEMBERING ‘MOTHER AFRICA’: MEMORY AND IDENTITY IN TWENTIETH CENTURY ANGOLAN AND AFRO-BRAZILIAN POETRY" (2009). Digitized Theses. 3772.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/digitizedtheses/3772