Perspectives on Um Defeito De Cor

Abstract

Considering the novel Um defeito de cor [A Color Defect], by Ana Maria Gonçalves (2009), as part of a symbolic system, this study aims to promote a debate around possible meanings listed in the expression presented in the title of the work, that is, color defect, in its articulation with the idea of ​​race. To accomplish this, we resort to what is proposed by Achille Mbembe (2019), Grada Kilomba (2019), Édouard Glissant (2021), Conceição Evaristo (2008), Frantz Fanon (2008), Lourenço Cardoso (2010), among others. As a starting point for the analyses undertaken, the perception of a cultural context in which the light skin, as a phenotypic characteristic related to humans classified as caucasian, constitutes a normative standard. In other words, the discussion starts from the principle of whiteness as a norm underlying the [Western] ideal of being human. In the following section, we discuss the semantic dispute configured around the black skin phenotype. In the bulge of this topic, are also addressed the significant Black and race. Finally, it is observed that if the title of the novel by Ana Maria Gonçalves (2009) alludes to the discourse of hegemonic power that aims to naturalize the social hierarchies constituted based on the idea of race, the image that illustrates its cover invites us to reflect on how the body – despite the marks of the colonial wound – is not limited to discourses, or the concepts and senses attributed to it. The analysis carried out, centered on the title of the novel Um defeito de cor [A Color Defect], is an indication of the epistemic potential of amefrican literatures in terms of engendering anti-racist and de[s]colonial reflections.