SOB AS ÁGUAS ANCESTRAIS DO ATLÂNTICO: BRANQUITUDE E A COR DO PRIVILÉGIO EM MARÉIA (2019) DE MIRIAM ALVES

Abstract

Whiteness reveals itself as a territory where silence, denial, supposed neutrality, fear and privilege intertwine. It represents the most hidden side of racism, and at the same time, it is fundamental to its maintenance and legitimization. Based on this understanding of the concept of whiteness, this research proposes, from a critical-interpretative reading, to analyze the character Alfredo Freire Menezes de Albuquerque as a portrait of colonial white supremacy, perpetuating structures of power and racial privilege through the narcissistic pact of whiteness. For this analysis, we focus on the novel Maréia (2019) by the black Brazilian writer Miriam Aparecida Alves. Specifically, we analyze Alfredo Freire Menezes de Albuquerque as a symbol of the white colonial heritage, reflected in his attitudes and behaviors; highlight the manifestation of the narcissistic pact of whiteness in the construction of racial superiority in the character in question; discuss how black-Brazilian literature, through poetic ferocity, dismantles the false idea of dehumanization, generally seen as a “black racial dilemma”, exposing the “pathology of white privilege” as a producer of misery, violence and misfortune. Therefore, the theoretical apparatus of the present work is constituted mainly by Almeida (2019), Bento (2002, 2021, 2022), Cuti (2010), Cardoso (2008, 2014), Fanon (2008), hooks (2019), Schucman (2012) and Silva (2018).