Modern Slavery and Water Spirituality: A Critical Debate in Africa and Latin America

Description

This book contains close readings of contemporary literary texts and art work by Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking authors from Africa and Latin America. The readings reveal a critical debate that understands reflections on the slave trade and current migrations from Africa to Europe as continuity since early modern history. This part of cultural history is firmly rooted in the Black Atlantic, although the book’s primary concern is a discussion of situations in which water spirituality functions as a backdrop. This critical inquiry of social inequality and injustice is based on a theoretical framework that addresses migrations overseas and forced labor. Therefore, the readings are placed within the cultural tradition of seven countries: Brazil, Angola, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Cape Verde, São Tomé and Principe, and Guinea-Bissau. Cover Sprachen – Literaturen – Kulturen Aachener Beiträge zur Romania Table of Contents Exploring the Ocean: Introduction Chapter 1: Trafficking Human Bodies Modernity: A Reflective Process Coloniality of Power Literature and the Ocean Toward a Blue Cultural Studies Chapter 2: The Urban Sea in Brazil Jorge Amado and Brazil’s Intellectual History An Invincible Memory by João Ubaldo Ribeiro Ana Maria Gonçalves’ Dream of Communication Yemaya’s Interventions Chapter 3: The New Sea in Angola The Introduction of a Water Spirit From Slavery to Forced Labor Memories in Contemporary Luanda The Future of Kianda Chapter 4: ‘Black Tears’ in Cuba The mambí and Africa The Return of the Drowned The Everlasting Balsa Prisoners of Water Kcho: Lágrimas negras (Black Tears), 1994, Private Collection, 120 x 170 cm. Chapter 5: L’éducation sentimentale in Equatorial Guinea Past and Present Migration Stagnation Annobon in the 1970s Transoceanic Connections Chapter 6: Creoles from Cape Verde The Slave on the Island of Santiago Is Migration a “Must”? The First Atlantic Elite Femme Fatale Intermezzo Letters from São Tomé 1952/53 Province Cape VerdeCentral Government Department of Civil Administrative Services To Note Down per Copy, 21 May 1953 Província de Cabo VerdeRepartição Central dos Serviços de Administração Civil Anotar por copia 21.05.1953 Chapter 7: Poets from São Tomé and Príncipe The African Studies Center (CEA) The Poet’s Compromise Foundational Poetics The Seas on the Porch Chapter 8: Idealism and Disillusionment in Guinea-Bissau The Birth of Cultural Institutions The Worker for Freedom Novelistic Experiments The Tragedy of Power Chapter 9: What Are They Heading for? A Critical Inquiry Bibliography Works by Selected Authors Works Cited Register of Names