The genealogy narrative crossed by the trauma of slavery in Françoise Ega and Carolina Maria de Jesus

Abstract

This article discusses the re-elaboration of trauma through the autobiographical narratives of Françoise Ega and Carolina Maria de Jesus in Le temps des madras and Quarto de despejo respectively. The text starts with a brief reflection on the difficulties of genealogical reconstruction operated by the autobiographical writings of black authorship due to the absences experienced by the families of ex-slaved people in tracing their lineages. Based on this observation, linked with the African diaspora in the Americas, the article analyzes how the narratives of Françoise Ega and Carolina Maria de Jesus resort to literary fabulation to restructure their genealogical lineages. Thus, it is concluded that literary fiction operates as a resilience factor in confronting the traumas of slavery and its consequences in contemporary times and as an element of rebuilding ancestral lineages.