Allegorical language: symbols, coloniality, and the representation of a brazilian elite in leite derramado and essa gente – novels by Chico Buarque

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24302/prof.v12.5897

Abstract

The present writing aims to analyze the ways in which the author Chico Buarque constructs and portrays the scene of contemporary Brazil in the books Leite derramado (2009) and Essa gente (2019). Using Chartier (1988) as a reference, it was investigated how struggles of representation are processes influenced by various factors. In the case of Brazil, this was a process founded and guided by foundational violence—specifically, the country’s colonization. Drawing from Lilia Moritz Schwarcz (2019) and reaching Jessé Souza (2017), it was possible to identify the forms of sociability that established Brazil and continue to dictate its social positions, structures of inequality, and, alongside these literary works, a Brazil that never fully materialized. Through these narratives, Chico Buarque is able to illustrate an elite that is destitute, grounded in a violent discourse, and legitimized by a past of privilege..

Key words: Chico Buarque; contemporary brazilian literature; city.

Author Biographies

  • Juliana Oliveira Silva, Universidade do Estado da Bahia - PPGEL

    Professora da rede estadual do Estado da Bahia. Mestra (2021) e Doutoranda em Estudo de Linguagens – Língua, leitura e cultura. Universidade do Estado da Bahia. Salvador. Bahia. Brasil. 

  • Oton Magno Santana dos Santos, Universidade do Estado da Bahia

    Ph.D. in Education from the State University of Campinas - Unicamp (2017); Master's degree in Letters: Languages and Representations (State University of Santa Cruz - Uesc) (2010); Specialist in Comparative Studies in Portuguese Language Literatures (2004); and Bachelor’s degree in Letters with a qualification in English from Uesc (2000). Leader of the Research Group LEALLL - Languages and Education: Literacy, Reading, Linguistics, and Literature (Uneb). Adjunct professor in the Portuguese Language and Literature program at DCH – I (Salvador) at the State University of Bahia (Uneb); Faculty member of the Graduate Program in Language Studies (PPGEL) at Uneb, Campus I; Coordinator of Research Line 1 (Reading, Literature, and Culture) at PPGEL-Uneb; Institutional Coordinator of Pibid at Uneb (2022-Present); Member of the Scientific Initiation Committee at Uneb. Author of the book Literary Education in High School: Ethnographic Pathways (2020). Research line: Reading, Literature, and Culture. Areas of interest: Brazilian Literature, Literary Education, Reader Formation, Teacher Training, and Textbooks. Institutional email: omsantos@uneb.br, Lattes link: http://lattes.cnpq.br/1727487434803907, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6872-4799.

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Published

2025-12-15

Issue

Vol. 12 (2025)

Section

Artigos

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

SILVA, Juliana Oliveira; SANTOS, Oton Magno Santana dos. Allegorical language: symbols, coloniality, and the representation of a brazilian elite in leite derramado and essa gente – novels by Chico Buarque. Profanações, [S. l.], v. 12, p. 925–944, 2025. DOI: 10.24302/prof.v12.5897. Disponível em: https://www.periodicos.unc.br/index.php/prof/article/view/5897. Acesso em: 17 dec. 2025.