Racismo interétnico e diferença em Maru, de Bessie Head : uma perspectiva pós-colonial

Abstract

In this research, the analysis of Bessie Head's Maru employs feminist and postcolonial theories, as well as their strands, as interpretative vehicles of the novel. Considering that female characters are crossed by innumerable intersectionalities that are related to race, gender and class, among other categories, we investigate how those sets fit together to shape difference. As a result, we observe that difference is not only configured as a place of subordination, but also of resistance. In this direction, we also focus on the narrative resources used by the author to construct the masculinities of her characters and how that African man was represented in the novel. Finally, from an interdisciplinary perspective that takes into account both the socio-historical-cultural context and the issues surrounding psychoanalysis, we further evaluate the existence of a possible form of interethnic racism and its consequences in the conflicting relationship between the two African ethnicities portrayed in Maru, the Tswana and the Basarwa.