A POÉTICA ECOLÓGICA EM OBRAS DE MIA COUTO: UMA ANÁLISE ECOCRÍTICA

Abstract

This thesis aims to present aspects of ecological poetics in selected works by the Mozambican writer Mia Couto and to analyze, under the guidance of ecocritical principles, issues related to the close relationship between humans and nature. Environmental narratives and scenarios present in Mia Couto's works stand out for presenting characteristics that can be interpreted through ecocritical comprehension which encompass environmental aspects from the commonplace to the relevance of global environmental themes. From this angle, the literary corpus signals to a critical and attentive look at the interrelationships between humans and nature, not due to ecological fads, but regarding human attitudes towards social, cultural, and economic contexts. To achieve the proposed objectives, the following short stories were analyzed: “A palmeira de Nguézi”, Contos do nascer da Terra (Couto, 2014); “O embondeiro que sonhava pássaros”, and “A princesa russa”, Cada homem é uma raça (Couto, 2013); “Chuva: a abensonhada”, Estórias abensonhadas (Couto, 2012); “Rosita”, Na berma de nenhuma estrada (Couto, 2016), and “O observatório”, As pequenas doenças da eternidade (Couto, 2023). The theoretical foundations that underpinned the ecocritical studies were broad and included authors such as Cheryll Glotfelty, Timothy Morton, Greg Garrard, Terry Gifford, Donna Haraway, Catherine Walsh, Evando Nascimento, Stefano Mancuso, Malcom Ferdinand, Vandana Shiva, and Ailton Krenak. This thesis enabled reflections that highlight Mia Couto’s literature as one of the precursors in the field of ecocritical studies related to African literature. By seeking answers to the research objectives and hypothesis, the study showed that ecological poetics in Mia Couto’s works is of fundamental relevance for the understanding of the relationships between human beings and nature. In the face of the transdisciplinary context involving literature and the environment, the study provides important elements for understanding human relationships with nature from an ecocritical perspective, and it broadens the dialogue between different areas of knowledge. Keywords: Mia Couto; Literature and environment; Ecocriticism; Decolonial ecology; Ecology of images.