Barbara Simoes is an Associate professor at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF), where she works for the Graduate Program in Literary Studies since 2013, in two research fields: Creative Writing and Literature, and Criticism and Culture, where she has advised several master’s and PhD students. Her most recent publication can be accessed in the link below:
https://www.scielo.br/j/rblc/a/DFWwSBfHrZFkCJ3ZwZk3DVf/
Barbara’s research interests are currently directed towards two projects, underlined below:
1 – Voices from the South: African Diaspora in a continental frame
This project reflects on the permanence of slavery as a theme found in the works of modern and contemporary authors from the United States, Angola, Brazil and Canada. Barbara has been researching on Black authors from these countries for over 10 years, comparing the similarities and differences in how they reconstruct, renegotiate or reflect on identity-building processes and African diaspora. Her research draws a new map of the Black Diaspora, integrating Black experiences in Latin America, North America and Africa, and proposes new ways of understanding African Diaspora.
Ghosts of Slavery: traumatic memories in novels of Brazil, Angola and USA (2022)
Dr. Simões’ most recently published book Ghosts of Slavery: traumatic memories in novels of Brazil, Angola and USA (2022), is a continuance of the research and investigation from her PhD dissertation. In it she examined Toni Morrison’s Beloved, Cornélio Penna’s A menina morta, and Arnaldo Santo’s A casa velha das margens, vis-à-vis the personification of traumatic memory in these works. Through a reading of Kafka’s short story “The Burrow”, she also sought to study space as both a motivation and a strategy for rescuing traumatic memory in those three novels. In this sense, the presence of ghosts in these tales was perceived not only as a structural element in the narratives, but as a character representing subalternity. From the perspective of the different ways in which, in its randomness, it deconstructs space, Dr. Simões analyzed the silence which pervades these fictional works––both as a representation of the (im)possibility of speaking, and as a form of representing the subaltern within the haunted houses. She investigated the books as representations of precarious and problematic identities.
In her book, Simões presented four chapters analyzing colonialism, slavery, diaspora and alterity in these novels, and the effects of slavery in these countries. Toni Morrison resorted to historical narratives contextualized in the 19 th century to address problems that persisted in the 20 th century, and this theme is also found in Brazilian and Angolan narratives of the same period. The renegotiation of memory, and the persistence of traumatic memory in these contemporary novels is evident as a symptom of something never forgotten in these nations, and is still in need of deep discussion. Also, the role of literature in Latin America is particularly important due to its key involvement in the development of politics, philosophy and, of course, history on the continent. In this sense, Simões has used Cornelio Penna’s historical novel to re-discuss Gilberto Freyre’s statements about racial democracy in Brazil, reflecting on the recent movements of affirmative action in Brazil and the destabilization it causes in our self-narrative of the nation. This book challenges prevailing discussions about historical projections and the critical force of postcoloniality, decoloniality and diasporic writings, and looks at 20 th -century novels from Brazil, US and Angola which discuss slavery in the 19 th century, focusing on traumatic memory, silence, subalternity, and racial democracy in the literary production of these countries.
2 – Voices from the South: We need to talk about Latino-Canada
Although it gains importance as the Latino population grows significantly in Canada, Latino Canadian Studies it is still a virtually invisible field in many university programs and invisible in almost one hundred per cent of Canadian Studies courses around the country. Within Latino Canadian Studies, this project investigates Sexuality and its role in Latino Canadian fiction. Considering that literature can serve as a powerful tool for expressing identity, challenging societal norms, and exploring the complexities of human experience, in the context of Latino Canadian literature, sexuality can be particularly significant, given the community’s position within a predominantly European Canadian society. Thus, this research investigates how Latino Canadian authors use themes of sexuality to navigate and negotiate their own cultural identity.
Furthermore, this research project aims to explore how sexuality is portrayed in Latino Canadian literature and its dual role in either reinforcing stereotypes or serving as a weapon of cultural resistance within the predominantly European Canadian context. By analyzing various literary works by Latino Canadian authors, Bárbara Simões seeks to understand the nuanced ways in which Latinas are represented in Carmen Aguirre, Alejandro Saravia and Martha Batiz, and whether sexuality is utilized to either succumb to, or defy the pressures of assimilation and cultural erasure.
In this sense, this project works within three theoretical frames:
1- Decolonial theory, to investigate the impact of colonial histories on cultural identity and sexuality and how non-European identities create strategies for their survival;
2- Queer Theory, to analyze non-normative sexualities and their representation in literature; and
3- Critical Race Theory, to understand how race and ethnicity intersect with sexuality in literary contexts. By analysing specific female characters from the selected Latino Canadian authors, this project will investigate if there is stereotypical reinforcement and if the female characters perpetuate exoticism, hyper-sexualization, or machismo or, on the other hand, if these portrayals use sexuality to challenge dominant narratives, assert cultural pride, and promote inclusivity. By analysing stereotypes associated with Latino communities in North American literature, this project also aims to research on the role of sexuality in Latino Canadian literature as a form of resistance, using Walter Mignolo’s concept of delinking from a European comprehension of sexuality and re-linking to new meanings that pre-existed European morality and the conception of sexuality, found to be more dominant in Latino-Canadian narratives. In this case, contemporary Latino Canadian literature could be understood also in its potentiality to foster a sense of community and resistance among immigrant Latino Canadians in a North American land. Finally, by highlighting the dual roles that these portrayals can play, this study aims to shed light on the complexities of cultural identity and resistance within the Latino Canadian community.
