Noémia de Sousa, ou ser “África da cabeça aos pés” em tempos de colonização

Abstract

In the present essay, I examine the work and career of the Mozambican poet Noémia Carolina Abranches de Sousa Soares (1926-2002). It is well known that Sousa began her career publishing under the initials “NS” to confuse her identity with that of her brother (whose name was Nuno) and so obfuscate her gender; however, women are a constant element in her work. Beyond this, I argue that Sousa adopted a pioneering approach to gender, one deeply connected to the anti-colonial struggle, the fight for the rights of her people, and the African American imaginary. Indelibly linked to social, racial, and gendered subalternity, Mozambican women constitute in Sousa’s oeuvre the personification of the struggle against the societal paradigms of the time.