NARRATIVE TRANSCULTURATION IN ENCANTARIAS: THE LEGEND OF THE NIGHT (2005)

Abstract

The transculturation in this article will be thought to analyze the imaginary production of the image and the narrative of the Mother of water (Iara) in the comic book Encantarias: a lenda da noite (2005).  The aim is to investigate the feminine daily life of several native peoples, in line with bibliographic research on the reports of European travellers (Hans Staden, Jean de Lery, Pero Vaz de Caminha), who observed the indigenous culture in colonial Latin America, materialising the production of stereotypical images in the period between the 16th and 17th centuries. These are represented in the figure of Iara, in Encantarias: a lenda da noite. In this work, we observe the production of the image of a woman based on the European culture, because the chroniclers cared little about the culture of the conquered lands, observing the native peoples by the European bias. Thus, the narratives about the Amerindian daily life are valuable, but directed to the interests of colonisation and conversion to Christianity. Such narratives represent the Indians as savages, with barbaric and uncivilized customs, as a way to legitimize the conquest of America. In this sense, this text intends to analyse the imaginary descriptions of the female Indian figure, which were influenced by the Western religious tradition with values very different from the American reality. To base my theoretical reflections, I take as a reference the phenomenon of transculturation thought by the Cuban Fernando Ortiz, in his work Contrapunteo cubano del azúcar del tabaco (1940) , and by the Uruguayan Ángel Rama, from his work Transculturación narrativa en América Latina (2004).

Keywords: Transculturation; Narratives; Comics; Mãe d'água(Iara).