New perspectives on post-colonial theory: On History and Knowledge in Brazilian Literary Studies

• Applicant: Dr. Laura Gagliardi
• Subject Area: General and Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies
• Term: from 2021 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 459579268

• Final Report Year: 2024

Final Report Abstract

This research project examined the emergence, development and formation of literary theory in the Brazilian context in the 20th and 21st centuries, from a comparative and critical perspective in the light of colonial history. The work of three canonical authors was taken into account – Mário de Andrade (1893–1945), Antonio Candido (1918–2017) and Roberto Schwarz (1938) – who, from the point of view of the research, form a constellation that had not been analysed either in Brazil or abroad. The three authors confronted the persistence of the colonial mentality in the process of theoretically examining literature at different historical moments in Brazilian and world history, which places them squarely within the scope of post- and decolonial studies. However, the research revealed the link between them to be an immanent and dialectical approach to the literary phenomenon, which considers the tense relationship between post-colonial reality and literature. Although the approaches of the three authors are different and respond to specific historical problems, the Andrade-Candido-Schwarz constellation was considered in this research with regard to two aspects in particular: the perception of the colonial legacy and how to deal with it (as an example, their interpretation of modernism and anthropophagy) and the elaboration of their literary-scientific methods. The decolonising approach of the three authors transcends geographical and disciplinary boundaries and offers valuable insights into contemporary phenomena.

Publications

• História Literária antes de 1922, o caso de Ronald de Carvalho. Literatura e Sociedade, 27(36), 89-121.
  Rivas Gagliardi, Laura
  
• „A Semana de Arte Moderna de 1922: condições e desdobramentos“, Lecture Series „Knowledge Production and Cultural Transfers in Trans-regional Contexts“, Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut, Berlin 24.03.2022.
  Rivas Gagliardi, Laura
  
• „Sobre Aspectos da Literatura Brasileira, de Mário de Andrade“. In: Modernismo brasileiro: prenúncios, ecos e problemas. André Dias, José Luís Jobim, Mireille Garcia, Rita Olivieri-Godet (Hg.) Rio de Janeiro: Makunaima, S. 194–220, 2022. Open Access Publikation ISBN 978-65- 87250-27-7
  Rivas Gagliardi, Laura
  
• Ein Meister an der Peripherie des Kapitalismus. De Gruyter.
  Schwarz, Roberto
  
• Einführung in Roberto Schwarz’ kritisches Werk. Ein Meister an der Peripherie des Kapitalismus, IX-LVI. De Gruyter.
  Rivas Gagliardi, Laura
  
• „Critique dialectique mise à jour: la contribution brésilienne“. In: Rivista Letterature d’America. Roma: Università degli Studi di Roma „La Sapienza“, Facoltà di Scienze Umanistiche, XLIII 195, 2023, S. 26–42 ISSN 1125-1743.
  Rivas Gagliardi, Laura
  
• Antropofagia, ein Grundbegriff der brasilianischen Kulturgeschichte. Kannibalismus und Eucharistie, 221-244. De Gruyter.
  Rivas Gagliardi, Laura
  
• O império brasileiro em crise: prismas da história e da crítica literária nos séculos XIX e XX. Iberoromania, 2024(99), 60-72.
  Rivas Gagliardi, Laura