As ilhas submersas: nós somos as Calibanas!

Abstract

The present research conducts a comparative analysis of the works Las brujas de la isla del viento (2006), by Elsa López, and Os continentes de dentro (2021), by María Elena Morán. Both authors, from distinct geographical contexts—López from the Canary Islands and Morán from Venezuela—use their works to reflect on territory, memory, and being a woman. The narratives highlight the social, historical, and imaginary confluence between two oceanic axes, evidenced by both the authors' places of birth and their geographical displacements. By recreating insular spaces deeply marked by patriarchal colonial legacies, these works explore the psychic and social impacts from the perspective of women. Based on the premises of Atlantic History, as discussed by Gilroy (1993), Ramos (2002), and Bailyn (2005), as well as the analyses of Souza and Acruche (2021), this research emphasizes cultural, social, and economic interactions across the Atlantic and their impact on overcoming Eurocentrism. It is also grounded in Benítez Rojo’s idea of the "repeating island" and the concepts of transculturation developed by Ortiz (1940), Césaire (1947,1950), Rama (1982), and Glissant (1981,1990), which denounce colonialism while celebrating cultural resistance. The decolonial perspective is examined through the works of Kusch (1962), Mudimbe (1988), and Quijano (2007), who address the expansion and consolidation of European coloniality to the detriment of Indigenous, Black, and mestizo identities. In the realm of the imaginary, following Bachelard (1978) and Le Goff (1985), these works are understood as creators of symbols, thoughts, and collective ways of living. Regarding the exotification and demonization of women, this dissertation engages with Wynter (1962, 1969), Federici (2004), Tinsley (2010), and Pérez Flores (2020), who reframe Caribbean and Atlantic landscapes as spaces of erotic and political resistance. The narratives of López and Morán illustrate how insular fictional spaces are reconfigured as sites of denunciation and resistance. Under an insular feminine perspective and in consideration of decolonial thought, the literary projects of these women become representations of the Calibanas, resisting sometimes as islands, as continents, but always as expressions of rupture against patriarchal structures.