IMAGINAÇÕES DISSIDENTES EM LA VISITA DE BOLÍVAR (2018):

UM DEBATE ENTRE LITERATURA, SOCIOLOGIA E HISTÓRIA

Abstract

In this article, we propose a discussion at the crossroads of the relationship between Literature, History and Sociology, articulating these fields with decolonial thought as a critical strategy for reinterpreting Latin America’s past. This debate emerges from the following concern: how can sociology contribute to literary analysis and, conversely, how can literary analysis enrich sociological inquiry? Departing from the understanding of literature as a privileged space for epistemic disobedience, this study investigates how fictional narratives can operate in destabilizing fictions of power and to create more critical readers. To support this analysis, we draw on the theoretical contributions of Freire (2021) regarding the critical reading of the world, as well as discussions on literacy, silencing, epistemic disobedience, and fictions of power developed, respectively, by Soares (2004), Kilomba (2019), Mignolo (2007), and Mombaça (2021). Based on this theoretical framework, we argue for the constitution of a productive crossroads between Literature, History, Sociology, and decoloniality. To this end, the corpus of analysis is the new Latin American historical novel La visita de Bolívar (2018), by Herbert Morote. This study seeks to demonstrate how literary devices may function as instruments of epistemic disobedience, contributing to the de-imagination of stabilized colonial narratives. In doing so, it highlights the articulation between sociological and literary imagination, opening space for other memories, voices, and interpretations of the Latin American past.