Odete Semedo’s canto-poem: memory, ancestry and resistance in No Fundo do Canto (2007)

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11606/va.v25.n2.2025.216640

Keywords:

Odete Semedo, memory, ancestry, resistence

Abstract

This article discusses the literary narrative of the Guinean national conflict as a mechanism for strengthening a literature of memory with traces of resistance and analyzes how this narrative develops in the chant-poem No fundo do canto (2007), by Guinean Odete Semedo, shaped by the civil war in Guinea-Bissau. Semedo's poem provides fundamental elements to understand the process of engendering literature that, by concatenating history and fiction, is materialized to strengthen national resistance. The historical conflicts in Guinea-Bissau described in literary terms are important to understand the dynamics of the production of literature that opens the way for a discussion about memory, tradition, culture, national identity and resistance. It is, therefore, a matter of remembering and not allowing the fears of the past again haunt the Guinean nation.

 

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Author Biography

  • Luis Carlos Alves de Melo, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro

    Adjunct Professor of Portuguese Literature and African Literatures in Portuguese at the Department of Literature and Social Communication - DLCOS, at the Institute of Human and Social Sciences - ICHS, at the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro - UFRRJ. He was a Substitute Professor at the Department of Literature at the Institute of Languages ​​at the Federal University of Mato Grosso (UFMT). PhD in Literature, in the area of ​​Literary Studies, from the Postgraduate Program in Literature at the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ) specializing in Literary Theory and Comparative Literature, with thesis research on the narratives of resistance in the poetry of the Timorese João Aparício and the Guinean Odete Semedo in a comparative perspective. Master in Literature, Literary Studies, from the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ) specializing in Portuguese Literature, with dissertation research on the poetry of Guinean social conflict in the works of Saliatu da Costa, Odete Semedo and Tony Tcheka. He was Deputy Coordinator of the Observatory of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (OPLOP). Bachelor in International Relations from the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ). Graduated in Literature (Portuguese/English) from Faculdade da Alta Paulista - FAP. He has experience in the area of ​​Literature, Linguistics and Literature, with special emphasis on studies of African Literature, particularly Portuguese-language Literature from Guinea-Bissau, and Oriental Literature, particularly Portuguese-language Literature from East Timor. The main areas of interest and research are: Relations between Literature and History, Tradition and Ancestry, Orality and Identities, Poetry and Prose of Resistance, Epic-lyrical Narratives, International Relations, Poetry-manifesto, Afro-Asian socio-political conflict, Decolonialism, Narratives of Independence. In addition to the themes described, he develops studies and research on the Literature of Goa, in the work of Telo de Mascarenhas.

References

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Published

2025-04-28

Issue

Vol. 25 No. 2 (2025): Women's Literature: Memories, Peripheries and Resistance in the Luso-Afro-Brazilian Space

Section

Dossiê 46: Literatura de Mulheres: Memórias, Periferias e Resistências no Espaço

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Copyright (c) 2025 Luis Carlos Alves de Melo

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How to Cite

MELO, Luis Carlos Alves de. Odete Semedo’s canto-poem: memory, ancestry and resistance in No Fundo do Canto (2007). Via Atlântica, São Paulo, v. 25, n. 2, p. 26–46, 2025. DOI: 10.11606/va.v25.n2.2025.216640. Disponível em: https://revistas.usp.br/viaatlantica/article/view/216640.. Acesso em: 5 jan. 2026.