This dissertation argues that Anglophone writers across the nineteenth-century Atlantic World can be seen trying to represent specific natural worlds as intentionally produced by the cultural practices of Indigenous or African Diasporic people. The case studies that support this argument include the work of Anne Wollstonecraft, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, and Gilbert Wilson, and they respectively travel from the plantation worlds of Matanzas, Cuba amidst the island’s “sugar revolution,” New England river wetlands but especially the unrelenting persistence of swamps, desert island archipelagos in the Pacific just before the Guano Wars, and the upper Missouri River basin beds increasingly enclosed by United States military installations. Reading each writer’s representation of these natural and social worlds through the framework of ‘land management,’ this thesis proposes a way of registering and tracing their shared attempt to discern practices that all center around the reproduction of ‘natural variation.’ It contends that these nineteenth-century attempts to observe, speculate, or imagine instances of natural variation, each as a product of Indigenous or African Diasporic land management practices be read as a form of poetics, which this dissertation defines as the rhetorical appropriation and reconfiguration of previous modes of discourse (as opposed to an idea of raw innovation). Here, Wollstonecraft, Hawthorne, Melville, and Wilson each renegotiate the colonial justification narrative, official orders of natural history, the perspective of the travel log, and early ethnographic anthropology, in order to represent myriad relationships between natural resilience and subaltern ‘survivance,’ the convergence of which this dissertation ultimately names ‘endurance.’ Finally, we might think of each renegotiation as itself a form of ‘management’ by which these writers respectively highlight their understanding of literature’s role in empire, but do so, in the hopes of rerouting this relay so that representations of nature come to include the role of cultural practices of land management. This archive of ‘endurance’ might be read, then, as the result of disparate authors who all nevertheless believe that literary work might actually help restore and sustain cultural and environmental realities.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation explores selected Indian narratives that emerge in South Africa and East Africa between 1960 and 2010, focusing on representations of migrations from the late 19th century, with the entrenchment of mercantile capitalism, to the early 21st century entry of immigrants into the metropolises of Europe, the US and Canada as part of the post-1960s upsurge in global migrations. The (post-)colonial and imperial sites that these narratives straddle re-echo Vijay Mishra‘s reading of Indian diasporic narratives as two autonomous archives designated by the terms, "old" and "new" diasporas. The study underscores the role of memory both in quests for legitimation and in making sense of Indian marginality in diasporic sites across the continent and in the global north, drawing together South Asia, Africa and the global north as continuous fields of analysis. Categorising the narratives from the two locations in their order of emergence, I explore how Ansuyah R. Singh‘s Behold the Earth Mourns (1960) and Bahadur Tejani‘s Day After Tomorrow (1971), as the first novels in English to be published by a South African and an East African writer of Indian descent, respectively, grapple with questions of citizenship and legitimation. I categorise subsequent narratives from South Africa into those that emerge during apartheid, namely, Ahmed Essop‘s The Hajji and Other Stories (1978), Agnes Sam‘s Jesus is Indian and Other Stories (1989) and K. Goonam‘s Coolie Doctor: An Autobiography by Dr Goonam (1991); and in the post-apartheid period, including here Imraan Coovadia‘s The Wedding (2001) and Aziz Hassim‘s The Lotus People (2002) and Ronnie Govender‘s Song of the Atman (2006). I explore how narratives under the former category represent tensions between apartheid state – that aimed to reveal and entrench internal divisions within its borders as part of its technology of rule – and the resultant anti-apartheid nationalism that coheres around a unifying ―black‖ identity, drawing attention to how the texts complicate both apartheid and anti-apartheid strategies by simultaneously suggesting and bridging differences or divisions. Post-apartheid narratives, in contrast to the homogenisation of "blackness", celebrate ethnic self-assertion, foregrounding cultural authentication in response to the post-apartheid "rainbow-nation" project. Similarly, I explore subsequent East African narratives under two categories. In the first category I include Peter Nazareth‘s In a Brown Mantle (1972) and M.G. Vassanji‘s The Gunny Sack (1989) as two novels that imagine Asians‘ colonial experience and their entry into the post-independence dispensation, focusing on how this transition complicates notions of home and national belonging. In the second category, I explore Jameela Siddiqi‘s The Feast of the Nine Virgins (1995), Yasmin Alibhai-Brown‘s No Place Like Home (1996) and Shailja Patel‘s Migritude (2010) as post-1990 narratives that grapple with political backlashes that engender migrations and relocations of Asian subjects from East Africa to imperial metropolises. As part of the recognition of the totalising and oppressive capacities of culture, the three authors, writing from both within and without Indianness, invite the diaspora to take stock of its role in the fermentation of political backlashes against its presence in East Africa. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie fokus op geselekteerde narratiewe deur skrywers van Indiër-oorsprong wat tussen 1960 en 2010 in Suid-Afrika en Oos-Afrika ontstaan om uitbeeldings van migrerings en verskuiwings vanaf die einde van die 19e eeu, ná die vestiging van handelskapitalisme, immigrasie in die vroeë 21e eeu na die groot stede van Europa, die VS en Kanada, te ondersoek, met die oog op navorsing na die toename in globale migrasies. Die (post-)koloniale en imperial liggings wat in hierdie narratiewe oorvleuel, beam Vijay Mishra se lesing van diasporiese Indiese narratiewe as twee outonome argiewe wat deur die terme "ou" en "nuwe" diasporas aangedui word. Hierdie proefskrif bestudeer die manier waarop herinneringe benut word, nie alleen in die soeke na legitimisering en burgerskap nie, maar ook om tot 'n beter begrip te kom van die omstandighede wat Asiërs na die imperiale wêreldstede loods. Ek kategoriseer die twee narratiewe volgens die twee lokale en in die volgorde waarin hulle verskyn het en bestudeer Ansuyah R Singh se Behold the Earth Mourns (1960) en Bahadur Tejani se Day After Tomorrow (1971) as die eerste roman wat deur 'n Suid-Afrikaanse en 'n Oos-Afrikaanse skrywe van Indiese herkoms in Engels gepubliseer is, en die wyse waarop hulle onderskeidelik die kwessies van burgerskap en legitimisasie benader. In daaropvolgende verhale van Suid-Afrika, onderskei ek tussen narratiewe at hul onstaan in die apartheidsjare gehad het, naamlik The Hajji and Other Stories deur Ahmed Essop, Jesus is Indian and Other Stories (1989) deur Agnes Sam en Coolie Doctor: An Autobiography by Dr. Goonam deur K. Goonam; uit die post-apartheid era kom The Wedding (2001) deur Imraan Covadia en The Lotus People (2002) deur Aziz Hassim, asook Song of the Atman (2006) deur Ronnie Govender. Ek kyk hoe die verhale in die eerste kategorie spanning beskryf tussen die apartheidstaat — en die gevolglike anti-apartheidnasionalisme in 'n eenheidskeppende "swart" identiteit — om die aandag te vestig op die wyse waarop die tekste sowel apartheid- as anti-apartheid strategieë kompliseer deur tegelykertyd versoeningsmoontlikhede en verdeelheid uit te beeld. Post-apartheid verhale, daarenteen, loof eerder etniese selfbemagtiging met die klem op kulturele outentisiteit in reaksie op die post-apartheid bevordering van 'n "reënboognasie", as om 'n homogene "swartheid" voor te staan. Op dieselfde manier bestudeer ek die daaropvolgende Oos-Afrikaanse verhale onder twee kategorieë. In die eerste kategorie sluit ek In an Brown Mantle (1972) deur Peter Nazareth en The Gunny Sack (1989) deur M.G. Vassanjiin, as twee romans wat Asiërs se koloniale geskiedenis en hul toetrede tot die post-onafhanklikheid bedeling uitbeeld (verbeeld) (imagine), met die klem op die wyse waarop hierdie oorgang begrippe van samehorigheid kompliseer. In die tweede kategorie kyk ek na The Feast of the Nine Virgins (1995) deur Jameela Siddiqi, No Place Like Home (1996) deur Yasmin Alibhai en Migritude (2010) deur Shaila Patel as voorbeelde van post-1990 verhale wat probleme met die politieke teenreaksies en verskuiwings van Asiër-onderdane vanuit Oos-Afrika na wêreldstede aanspreek. As deel van die erkenning van die totaliserende en onderdrukkende kapasiteit van kultuur, vra die drie skrywers – as Indiërs en as wêreldburgers – die diaspora om sy rol in die opstook van politieke teenreaksie teen sy teenwoordigheid in Oos-Afrika onder oënskou te neem.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2018-11-05T12:59:20Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Bruno Garcia dos Santos.pdf: 2243413 bytes, checksum: 462f1841f67e62ea1e965184f6390de2 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-11-05T12:59:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Bruno Garcia dos Santos.pdf: 2243413 bytes, checksum: 462f1841f67e62ea1e965184f6390de2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-09-13 / Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq / Countries of the African Diaspora, in particular Brazil, have as heritage the ancestral practices that constitute the sociocultural structure, the history, and the memory of these groups. However, these countries are experiencing a process that does not properly recognize these peoples, especially because of political-economic interests that neglect and stereotype the vast African universe, marked by knowledge, science, and worldviews. Taking this into consideration, our study is part of a set of initiatives aimed at highlighting the importance of preserving Afro-diasporic memories in Brazil, focusing on a black territory in São Paulo – Parque Peruche Neighborhood, located in the Northern region of the city of São Paulo (SP). Our main objectives are: (1) participate in the production of memories and monitor narratives of the diversity and memory of Afro-diasporic groups; (2) participate in debates about the resignification of ancestral oral practices in the African Diaspora, and (3) suggest possible interpretations on the presence and permanence of Black-African ancestry in the São Paulo territory. As a specific objective, we intend to draw a parallel between the current discussion about African heritage in Parque Peruche Neighborhood and the way the paths and narratives of its interlocutors, guardians of the black memories of such region, are developed. Based on oral history, the methodological procedure will be carried out in order to associate the bibliographic material with the fieldwork material / Os países da diáspora, em particular o Brasil, são herdeiros de práticas ancestrais que constituem a estrutura sociocultural, a história e a memória de grupos africanos. No entanto, tais países vivenciam um processo que não concede o devido reconhecimento a esses povos, sobretudo por conta de interesses político-econômicos que negligenciam e estereotipam o vasto universo africano, marcado por saberes, ciências e cosmovisões. Considerando esse contexto, o presente trabalho insere-se em um conjunto de iniciativas que têm por finalidade exaltar a importância da preservação de memórias afrodiaspóricas no Brasil, particularizando um território negro paulistano – o Parque Peruche e seu entorno, situado na zona norte do município de São Paulo (SP). São seus objetivos centrais (1) participar da produção de memórias e acompanhar narrativas da diversidade e memória de grupos afrodiaspóricos; (2) participar de debates sobre reelaborações de práticas orais ancestrais na diáspora e (3) sugerir possíveis traduções acerca da presença e permanência de ancestralidades negro-africanas em território paulistano. Como objetivo específico, pretende traçar um paralelo entre a discussão vigente em torno das heranças africanas no Parque Peruche e o modo pelo qual ocorrem percursos e narrativas de suas/seus interlocutoras(es), guardiãs/ões das memórias negras da zona norte do município (SP). Com base na história oral, o procedimento metodológico é realizado com vistas a articular o material bibliográfico ao material advindo de pesquisa de campo

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T13:31:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Liliane Pereira Braga.pdf: 663723 bytes, checksum: 02710f5a67698c9243916edc6121de47 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-10-23 / This research tried to understand how the civilizatory patrimony of the yorubas - known as "nagôs" in Brazil make it possible to constitute the afrodescendent identities with an emancipatory sense as they respect the freedom of the differences with the valorization of the social equality. The respect to diverseness is a fundamental value among the nagôs and the candomblé, one of the main receivers of its tradition, disseminates that value mainly through the yoruba mythology. This mythology is portrayed here as part of that civilizatory patrimony and encompasses, in persona of the orixás, the search for a society in which there is space for the diversity of human types, in an equalitarian way. To understand how the original inheritance of a piece of Africa makes it possible to constitute the afrodescendent identities with a emancipatory sense, a case study was done which involves the life history of Ilícito - a rapper who demonstrates in his music to share many of the present aspects of the African legacy being studied. Among them, it is the identification with the persona of the orixás, especially with Xangô. The plot around that orixá allows us to explore a little more the subject of the respect to alteration among the nagôs. We used the theoretical-methodological approach of Antonio da Costa Ciampa as the theoretical support for this research, in whose opinion identity is a metamorphosis process in search of human emancipation / A presente pesquisa procura compreender como o patrimônio civilizatório dos iorubás - conhecidos como nagôs no Brasil - possibilita que identidades afrodescendentes se constituam com um sentido emancipatório ao respeitarem a liberdade das diferenças com a valorização da igualdade social. O respeito à alteridade é valor fundamental entre os nagôs e o candomblé, um dos grandes depositários da sua tradição, dissemina esse valor principalmente por meio da mitologia iorubana. Retratada aqui como parte desse patrimônio civilizatório, tal mitologia traz na figura dos orixás a busca de uma sociedade em que haja espaço para a diversidade dos tipos humanos, de forma igualitária. Para compreender como a herança originária de um pedaço de África possibilita que identidades afrodescendentes se constituam com um sentido emancipatório, foi realizado um estudo de caso envolvendo a história de vida de Ilícito - um rapper que, em suas músicas, demonstra compartilhar muitos dos aspectos presentes no legado africano em questão. Entre eles, está a identificação com as figuras dos orixás, especialmente com Xangô. O enredo em torno desse orixá permite-nos explorar um pouco mais a questão do respeito à alteridade presente entre os nagôs. Como suporte teórico desta pesquisa, é utilizada a abordagem teórico-metodológica de Antonio da Costa Ciampa, para quem identidade é o processo de metamorfose em busca da emancipação humana

[pt] No início de 2011, em um expressivo achado arqueológico na zona portuária da cidade do Rio de Janeiro, foram encontradas as pedras do cais por onde desembarcaram centenas de milhares de escravos africanos a serem vendidos no antigo mercado do Valongo, tido como o maior do gênero no Brasil nos séculos XVIII e XIX. Soterrado e apagado do tecido urbano carioca por quase dois séculos, o Valongo se transforma, em 2012, em ponto de um Circuito Histórico e Arqueológico da Celebração da Herança Africana, de cunho pedagógico e turístico, no contexto de uma ampla reforma urbanística da área portuária, o Projeto Porto Maravilha. Esta tese discute as possibilidades de releitura, na atualidade, de uma parte da história da cidade e do País associada ao tráfico negreiro e ao escravismo que, sob muitos aspectos, deixou de ser contada. Investiga, a partir de um lugar geográfico, a inscrição do passado da escravidão no imaginário social da cidade do Rio de Janeiro e do País, visitando diferentes temporalidades históricas. A descoberta contemporânea do antigo cais e mercado de escravos evoca o topos de que a experiência da escravidão no Brasil foi, de diferentes modos, apagada. Nestes termos, a emergência dessas ruínas no século XXI motiva o questionamento sobre como e por quem a história brasileira foi e é configurada. / [en] In early 2011, during an outstanding archeological excavation in the port area of Rio de Janeiro city, stones were found that belonged to the wharf where hundreds of thousands of African slaves disembarked to be sold in the old Valongo market, held to be the largest of its kind in Brazil in the 18th and 19th centuries. Buried and erased from the urban texture of Rio for nearly two centuries, in 2012 Valongo has become a milestone in the Historical and Archeological Circuit of the Celebration of African Legacy, with both educational and tourist characteristics, within the context of a sweeping city-planning reform of the docks area: the Marvellous Port Project. This thesis discusses the possibilities of (re)reading today a part of the history of the city and the country, a history associated with the African slave trade and slavery which in many aspects was not told. Starting from a geographic location, an investigation is made into how the history of slavery has been impressed in the social imaginary of the city of Rio de Janeiro and the country over several historical periods. The contemporary discovery of the old wharf and slave market evokes the topos that the experience of slavery in Brazil was, in many aspects, wiped out. Seen in this light, the emerging of these ruins in the 21st century arouses questions as to how and by whom Brazilian history was and is configured.

[pt] A dissertação tem como objetivo apresentar e comparar as trajetórias e pensamento de Angela Yvonne Davis (Alabama/EUA, 1944) e Lélia Almeida Gonzalez (Minas Gerais/Brasil, 1935 - Rio de Janeiro/Brasil, 1994) - duas intelectuais e militantes dos movimentos negros nos EUA e no Brasil. Angela destacou-se internacionalmente na década de 1960 como símbolo da luta negra nos EUA, o impacto da sua imagem se inscreveu na memória daqueles que viveram aqueles anos. Lélia foi militante importante do movimento negro brasileiro de finais dos anos 1970, quando também participou ativamente luta política pela redemocratização do país. Minha discussão das obras dos autores enfatiza as teorizações desenvolvidas acerca da inserção das mulheres negras em seus países, com destaque para o debate a respeito das experiências das mesmas com a escravidão. Explora-se, ao longo da dissertação, o legado conceitual que deixaram para os estudos contemporâneos sobre relações raciais. / [en] My goal with this thesis to present and compare the trajectories and thoughts of Angela Yvonne Davis (Alabama/USA, 1944) and Lélia Almeida Gonzalez (Minas Gerais/Brasil, 1935 - Rio de Janeiro/Brasil, 1994) - both women intellectuals and activists of the Black movements in the US and Brazil. Angela became internationally known in the 1960s as a Black struggle symbol in the US. The impact of her figure still lingers on in the memory of those who lived in those years. Lélia was an important activist in the Brazilian Black movement of the late 1970s, when she intensively took part in the political struggle for the return of democracy in Brazil. My discussion of the authors´ main works emphasizes the theoretical essays they developed on the social insertion of black women in their countries. It specially highlights the debate forwarded on black women experiences under slavery. Throughout the thesis I call attention for the contribution of their conceptual legacy for contemporary studies on racial relations.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center; full text release delayed at author's request until 2011 Aug 15

Cette thèse porte sur le leiwah d’Arabie orientale, un rite de possession pratiqué par les Zunûj, une population de descendants d’esclaves originaires des côtes est-africaines. Durant les quatre dernières décennies, les institutions culturelles des États-nations d’Arabie orientale ont présenté la musique et la danse de ce rite comme une pratique festive sans lien avec la possession, participant ainsi à dissocier ce rite de l’histoire régionale et de la population qui le pratique. Cette thèse, qui combine l’étude de sources écrites et orales avec l’analyse de discours et une ethnographie fondée sur l’observation participante (11 rites leiwah au Sultanat d’Oman, dont 1 décrit en détail) montre que le leiwah ne peut se comprendre que par rapport à l’histoire et au statut initial d’esclaves des Zunûj. Dans un premier temps (chapitres 1 à 3), cette étude révèle la profondeur historique du leiwah et explore les différents processus ayant participé à l’invisibilité de sa pratique rituelle. Dans un deuxième temps (chapitre 4), elle montre en quoi les notions d'esprit de possession en vigueur dans cette population diffèrent de celles connues en Islam ainsi que dans la pratique du zâr, un autre rite de possession décrit dans la région depuis le XIXe siècle (mais aussi dans la corne de l’Afrique, en Égypte et en Iran). Enfin (chapitres 5 à 7), l’analyse de la mise en œuvre de la possession et de la musique dans le rite leiwah (interactions, protocole, structure) montre l’existence d’un complexe rituel qui interagit, depuis près d’un siècle, avec la norme culturelle et religieuse arabo-musulmane qui l’environne. / This thesis focuses on the leiwah of Eastern Arabia, a rite of possession practiced by the Zunûj, a population of slave descendants from the coasts of East Africa.During the last four decades, the cultural institutions of Eastern Arabian nation-states have presented the music and the dance of the rite of possession as a festive practice unrelated to possession, and participated in dissociating this rite from the regional history and the population practicing it.This thesis, which combines the study of written and oral sources with discourse analysis and an ethnography based on participant observation (11 leiwah rites observed in the Sultanate of Oman, 1 described in detail) shows that the leiwah can be understood only in relation to the history and original slave status of the Zunûj.First (chapters 1 to 3), this study reveals the historical depth of the leiwah and explores the various processes contributing to the invisibility of its ritual practice. It then shows (chapter 4) how the notions of spirit of possession in this population differ from the ones known in Islam as well as in zâr, another rite of possession described since the 19th century in the area (and in the Horn of Africa, Egypt, and Iran). Finally (chapters 5 to 7), the analysis of the execution of possession and the music in the leiwah rite (interactions, protocol, structure) reveals the existence of a ritual complex that has been interacting, for almost a century, with the cultural and religious Arab-Muslim norm surrounding it.

Orientador: Robert Wayne Andrew Slenes / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-19T03:36:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Santos_MaykonRodriguesdos_M.pdf: 2543973 bytes, checksum: ed11e9b21b339e9c6b5fabe99af5a05c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011 / Resumo: Neste trabalho estudamos as escravas e libertas do grupo étnico Mina que atuaram no pequeno comércio de Vila Rica entre os anos de 1753-1797. Enfatizaremos como um saber aprendido ainda na África, atuação no pequeno comércio, foi utilizado por tais mulheres para construir uma identidade relacionada ao passado e em torno da procedência comum, como também ser parte das estratégias de ascensão social que envolveu a compra da liberdade e de escravos, inserção em irmandades e acúmulo de patrimônio. Tal processo se consolida na formação de um grupo étnico: o Mina. Assim, estudamos os registros de licença de vendas de Vila Rica com o objetivo principal de comprovar a alta participação forra e escrava na atividade. Após isso, cotejamos tal fonte com testamentos para identificar nosso objeto, mulheres do grupo étnico Mina, e a partir das pretas Mina comerciantes deciframos o universo social e econômico do grupo étnico / Abstract: In this paper, it was studied the slave and freed women from the ethnic group Mina which took part in the small scale commerce in Vila Rica between the years 1753-1797. It is emphasized how the knowledge learned back in Africa, participation in small scale commerce, was used by those women to build such identity related to the past and around their common origin, as well as being part of strategies for social mobility that involved the purchase of freedom of slaves, insertion into brotherhoods and heritage accumulation. This process was consolidated in the formation of an ethnic group: Mina. Thus, records of sale license from Vila Rica were studied aiming at proving the high participation of freed and slave women in the activity. Then, that source was compared to testaments in order to identify our object, women of the ethnic group Mina, and the social and economic universe of the ethnic group was deciphered from Mina black traders / Mestrado / Historia Social / Mestre em História

Orientador: Jefferson Cano / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-19T23:14:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Almeida_MarcosAbreuLeitaode_M.pdf: 2645734 bytes, checksum: dc8013b1aaa27f7a37fdb2b75b03de16 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012 / Resumo: A presente dissertação de mestrado atenta para a dimensão sociolinguística da experiência dos africanos escravizados levados ao Império do Brasil pelo contrabando de africanos, que Joaquim Nabuco denominou de "Trilogia infernal", encenada nos "sertões da África", no "mar" e nas "fazendas" do sudeste brasileiro. Meu objetivo foi investigar como o repertório linguístico dos africanos contribuiu para construir as "estrofes e prosódias" do Atlântico Sul e abordar a questão da comunicação em cada um dos palcos da "trilogia infernal" para, em seguida, buscar entender como a formação de novas linguagens, e os subsequentes intercâmbios culturais que elas permitiram, foram mobilizadas por muitos africanos escravizados na luta quotidiana contra a massiva escravização ilegal no Império do Brasil entre 1831 e c.1850. Dada a importância das rotas atlânticas que ligavam o centro-sul brasileiro com a região do Congo e de Angola, na África, a pesquisa concentrou suas atenções nos centro-africanos e suas habilidades linguísticas, isto é, como eles aprendiam e manejavam o português, negociavam comunidades de fala a partir de suas línguas maternas e intercambiavam suas bagagens culturais. Com isso, foi possível perceber como a questão da língua se articulava com as relações de poder e econômicas do contrabando de escravos e da escravidão ilegal em meio ao processo de construção do Estado Imperial / Abstract: This dissertation aims the sociolinguistic dimension of the enslaved Africans' experience brought to Brazilian Empire by the illegal slave trade, that Joaquim Nabuco called the "Trilogy of hell," staged in "Africa", "the ocean" and "plantations" in southeastern Brazil. My goal was to investigate how Africans' linguistic repertoire helped to build the South Atlantic "strophes and prosodies" and address the issue of communication in each stage of the illegal slave trade to seek understand how the formation of new languages and the subsequent cultural exchanges were mobilized by enslaved Africans in daily struggle against massive illegal enslavement in the Brazilian Empire between 1831 and c.1850. Given the importance of the Atlantic routes that connected southeastern Brazil to Congo region and Angola, this research has focused its attention on Central Africans and their language skills, that is, how they learned and handled Portuguese language, negotiated speech communities from their mother tongues and exchange its cultural baggage. Thus, it becomes possible understand how the "language question" was linked with economic and power relations during Brazilian contraband and illegal enslavement amidst the process of State building in Brazilian Empire / Mestrado / Historia Social / Mestre em História