Maya Angelou’s Africa: Diasporic Identity in All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes

Authors

  • Maria Aparecida Andrade Salgueiro Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro Author
  • Felipe Fanuel Xavier Rodrigues Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17851/2317-2096.25.3.31-48

Keywords:

Africa, Maya Angelou, African-American identity

Abstract

This article aims to reappraise Maya Angelou’s journey on African soil, through the critical reading of her autobiographical narrative about the period in which she lived in Ghana. From a broad perspective of cultural analysis, this study directs attention to the quest for identity of this African-American author in her relationship with Africa and its meanings. The characteristics of Angelou’s writing are investigated in parallel with the themes that motivate her work, in order to distinguish her appropriation of the autobiographical genre. Her identity as a black diasporic subject, who recounts her own experiences beyond the historical limits of colonialism, reveals a unique African heritage which finds its means of cultural struggle in creative imagination.

Author Biographies

  • Maria Aparecida Andrade Salgueiro, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro

    Doutora pela Universidade Federal Fluminense e Pós-Doutora pela Universidade de Londres. Professora Associada – Instituto de Letras – Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UERJ). Coordenadora Geral do Centro de Estudos Interculturais do Escritório Modelo de Tradução. Presidente da Casa de Leitura Dirce Côrtes Riedel – UERJ. Pesquisadora do CNPq – Cientista do Nosso Estado – FAPERJ.

  • Felipe Fanuel Xavier Rodrigues, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro

    Bolsista CAPES/Fulbright na área de Literatura, no Dartmouth College – EUA (2014-2015). Membro do Grupo de Pesquisa do Centro de Estudos Interculturais do ESCRTRAD/UERJ. Doutorando em Literatura Comparada PPGL – Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UERJ).

References

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Published

2016-04-28

Issue

Vol. 25 No. 3 (2015): Aproximações e Contradições nas Literaturas em Inglês

Section

Resistências

License

Copyright (c) 2016 Maria Aparecida Andrade Salgueiro, Felipe Fanuel Xavier Rodrigues (Autor)

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How to Cite

Maya Angelou’s Africa: Diasporic Identity in All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes. (2016). Aletria: Revista De Estudos De Literatura, 25(3), 31-48. https://doi.org/10.17851/2317-2096.25.3.31-48