Literatura como meio de resistência cultural e descolonização epistemológica: colonialismo, colonialidade e descolonização na obra “Meu pequeno país” de Gael Faye.

Abstract

This paper analyzes Gael Faye’s novel “My Little Country” from a decolonial perspective, exploring how the Franco-Rwandan author’s narrative addresses issues of colonization, decolonization, and coloniality, especially through memory. The novel serves as a medium through which Faye, considering herself a historical agent, reflects her experience with colonization and her complex identity through an alter ego. The book is notably constructed from the author’s personal memories, challenging stereotypical and constant representations of lived experiences. Using Stuart Hall’s concepts of fragmented identity and Michel de Certeau’s tactics of everyday resistance, the study aims to understand how Faye’s personal memories, analyzed through Pollock’s memory lens, contribute to a narrative that subverts stereotypes of the past. Furthermore, this paper takes a look at postcolonial and resistance literature highlighted in the works of Frantz Fanon and Chinua Achebe to deepen the discussion on decolonization, highlighting how literature can be an instrument of resistance and identity reconstruction in postcolonial contexts within Faye's text. The analysis aims to elucidate how "My Little Country" not only offers a unique perspective on history but also positions Faye as an active protagonist in the deconstruction of preconceived narratives, reflecting the complexity of postcolonial subjects, whose identities are fragmented and continually shaped by the legacies of colonization and persistent coloniality.