Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Do canto da voz ao batuque da letra: a presença africana em narrativas orais inscritas no Brasil. 2012. 200 folhas. Tese (Doutorado) – Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Faculdade de Letras, Belo Horizonte.

2012; PONTIFÍCIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DE MINAS GERAIS; Volume: 10; Issue: 25 Linguagem: Inglês

10.5752/3157

2175-5841

Josiley Francisco de Souza,

Global Maritime and Colonial Histories

The oral art of strorytelling has always been part of human life and, for a long time, was an assential activity of societies to ensure maintenance of memories and knowledge transmitted through the tissue of narrative.One place where this art is strongly present is Africa.The poetic expressions of oral tradition have been identified by many researchers as a hallmark of African cultures and, as shown by many studies, are characterized as very important element in written literature itself by many authors throughout the continent.On Brazilian soil, one can also find the permanence of the oral verbal art.The image of storytelles who gathers ears, gestures and glances around this word can be found in many regions of Brazil, especially in the countryside.And among the many African contributions in the constitution of Brazilian culture, the presence of voices from back Africa in the oral tradition can also be perceived.This presence is revealed, from mouth to ear and from word to letter, through resonances and dialogues between African and Brazilian voices in oral narratives which were recorded in different regions of Brazil from the late nineteenth century.Inscribed in an always moving art, which promotes narratives of intense transit for various times and places -after all, the same short story or theme can be found in different places in the world -it is observed that the African presence in these oral tales is permeated by procedures of transcreation and of cross-cultural phenomena.Thus, such presence is revealed in the interweaving of voices that is very expression of Afro-Brazilian culture and can be found in different ways in oral tales: in the analysis of the characters of the plot of the narratives in the studio of printed publications that are dedicated to oral tale, or in the analysis of the Portuguese language, which, as well as oral narratives themselves, presents itself as an element of inscriptions an contacts of diverse cultures.