Memory, hybridity, and subalternity in Luís Cardoso's "O plantador de abóboras"

Abstract

Luís Cardoso’s O plantador de abóboras presents itself as an extensive monologue in poetic prose in which the narrator and protagonist intertwines her experiences with those of her ancestors. From this fictional testimony, we witness a century of East Timor history and a textualization of Timorese women, both marked by the violence of the occupiers, the resisters, and those who exercise power. By choosing a female voice, the writer elevates women from their subalternity, making audible a voice usually silenced by a society that has perpetuated their invisibility. In this article, we propose to reflect around the place of memory in the (re)writing of history, the concepts of frontier and hybridity, as well as gender relations, under the light of post-colonial, cultural, and subaltern studies. The development of our analysis is supported by the work of authors such as Edward Said, Homi Bhabha, and Gayatri Spivak.