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I was born and grew up in one of the most fascinating cities in the
world, Rio de Janeiro. When I was at college in Brazil I had the opportunity
to participate in the manifestations for the return of democracy in the country, the campaign of Diretas Já. Those protests had profound impact
on my personal life and, although I did not realize at that time, they helped to determine the paths of my future career. Many years later, the historical
events I had observed in Brazil started coming into my mind. Literature and politics were united when I realized the opening of the political process in the seventies had promoted the emergence of new literary
trends. Those included Afro-Brazilian literature, feminist, and subalterns’ narratives.
My primary research interests are contemporary Luso-Brazilian
literature, Afro-Brazilian literatutre, and Brazilian cinema.
I recently completed the manuscript Writing Identity: The Politics of
Contemporary Afro-Brazilian Literature (under review), which scrutinizes the literary production of a São Paulo-based group of Afro-Brazilian
writers, the Quilombhoje. These authors are active participants of the black movement and use their writings to promote a consciousness-raising
process on the questions of race relations and racism in Brazil. I also study the connection between canonicity and race, investigating
Afro-Brazilian writers allegedly invisibility on the Brazilian literary scene and exploring the possible roots for their lack of artistic legitimacy. Finally,
I analyze the connection between politics and culture, and examine the literature of the black movement in Brazil. I particularly focus on a group of authors named Quilombhoje. The name itself favors social resistance and makes a stand against racism, since quilombos were self-sufficient
communities of runaway slaves during the slavery period. Here I am with my friends from Quilombhoje in São Paulo.
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