Modern Slavery and Water Spirituality : A Critical Debate in Africa and Latin America

This book contains close readings of contemporary literary texts and art work by Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking authors from Africa and Latin America. The readings reveal a critical debate that understands reflections on the slave trade and current migrations from Africa to Europe as continuity since early modern history. This part of cultural history is firmly rooted in the Black Atlantic, although the book’s primary concern is a discussion of situations in which water spirituality functions as a backdrop. This critical inquiry of social inequality and injustice is based on a theoretical framework that addresses migrations overseas and forced labor. Therefore, the readings are placed within the cultural tradition of seven countries: Brazil, Angola, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Cape Verde, São Tomé and Principe, and Guinea-Bissau. Cover 1 Sprachen – Literaturen – Kulturen Aachener Beiträge zur Romania 9 Table of Contents 11 Exploring the Ocean: Introduction 15 Chapter 1: Trafficking Human Bodies 23 Modernity: A Reflective Process 25 Coloniality of Power 30 Literature and the Ocean 33 Toward a Blue Cultural Studies 37 Chapter 2: The Urban Sea in Brazil 45 Jorge Amado and Brazil’s Intellectual History 45 An Invincible Memory by João Ubaldo Ribeiro 49 Ana Maria Gonçalves’ Dream of Communication 54 Yemaya’s Interventions 60 Chapter 3: The New Sea in Angola 67 The Introduction of a Water Spirit 68 From Slavery to Forced Labor 70 Memories in Contemporary Luanda 77 The Future of Kianda 85 Chapter 4: ‘Black Tears’ in Cuba 89 The mambí and Africa 90 The Return of the Drowned 93 The Everlasting Balsa 98 Prisoners of Water 101 Kcho: Lágrimas negras (Black Tears), 1994, Private Collection, 120 x 170 cm. 111 Chapter 5: L’éducation sentimentale in Equatorial Guinea 113 Past and Present Migration 115 Stagnation 120 Annobon in the 1970s 125 Transoceanic Connections 129 Chapter 6: Creoles from Cape Verde 137 The Slave on the Island of Santiago 141 Is Migration a “Must”? 143 The First Atlantic Elite 148 Femme Fatale 151 Intermezzo 156 Letters from São Tomé 1952/53 156 Province Cape Verde Central Government Department of Civil Administrative Services To Note Down per Copy, 21 May 1953 156 Província de Cabo Verde Repartição Central dos Serviços de Administração Civil Anotar por copia 21.05.1953 161 Chapter 7: Poets from São Tomé and Príncipe 171 The African Studies Center (CEA) 175 The Poet’s Compromise 179 Foundational Poetics 182 The Seas on the Porch 188 Chapter 8: Idealism and Disillusionment in Guinea-Bissau 191 The Birth of Cultural Institutions 192 The Worker for Freedom 195 Novelistic Experiments 198 The Tragedy of Power 205 Chapter 9: What Are They Heading for? A Critical Inquiry 209 Bibliography 225 Works by Selected Authors 225 Works Cited 230 Register of Names 255 The close readings of selected literary texts by Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking authors from Africa and Latin America reveal that water spirituality is connected to working conditions and migration overseas. This results in a critical debate which understands these projections as continuity since early modern history.