INCITING SILENCE VOICES IN PAULINA CHIZIANE

RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN GENDER AND MEMORY IN “AS CICATRIZES DO AMOR”

Abstract

First African woman to win the Camões Prize for Literature (2021), Mozambican Paulina Chiziane stands out for incorporating a perspective rooted in the orality of her Bantu cultural heritage into her literature, making her a true storyteller, as she considers herself. With rich and poetic language, her works address socio-cultural themes that affect the lives of women and minorities in Mozambique, highlighting social inequalities and injustices. In this context, we find the short story “The Scars of Love,” featured in the literature and human rights collection Griots (2020), the focus of this work. It narrates the story of Maria, a Mozambican bar owner who, when confronted with a newspaper article about a mother abandoning her children, recalls traumatic moments from her own life when she found herself in a similar situation without any support. Our goal, therefore, is to analyze the experience of the character Maria, highlighting issues related to gender and memory. To this end, we will use the theoretical frameworks from Oyèrónké Oyěwùmí (2004), Ifi Amadiume (2006), Hampaté Bâ (2010), and Maurice Halbwachs (1990), along with the critical reception of Chiziane's work.