Signo Cimarrón: o direito de significar

Abstract

In this work we intend to present a possible reading of the book Signo Cimarrón, by Edimilson de Almeida Pereira, taking into consideration the main aspects that seem relevant to our study: a) the importance of memory to maintain alive traditions; b) the importance of language in diffusion of memory; c) the desire to signify by peoples usually marginalized; d) the importance of the African diáspora in the New World and its contribution to western thought. Signo Cimarrón, published in 2005, is an attempt to recuperate the inheritances of a character almost forgotten in contemporary world: the cimarrón. By recovering this character, the poet allows the understanding of his presence in contemporary society, as well as highlights his desire to have a voice in the construction of identity in the New World. The forty poems in the book poetize the history of slavery in the Americas, from middle passage, the arrival at the unknown land, the forced labor in the plantation, and the escape from the plantation. Edimilson brings us a new way of rethinking and valorize the cimarrón’s life in a contemporary context.