Angola facing chaos: the memory as rescue of angolan tradition in “Parable of the Old Tortous”

Abstract

In investigating the identity constitution of the African continent, we come across a landscape immersed in territorial
disputes and cultural impositions. African countries have positioned themselves in different ways in this reality,
intending to resist the appropriation of their space and attempt to erase culture. It is under this scenario that Pepetela
in Parabola do Cágado Velho (1996) transits in order to narrate the trajectory of the Angolan people from Ulume,
protagonist of the novel and representative figure of tradition amid the threat of rupture of this heritage. In this narrative
we will consider the indispensability of memory as a symbol of resistance and perpetuation of culture, recovering the
Angolan legacy based on the revival of inherited and lived stories. In line with this study, we will bring as theoretical
contributions the following scholars: Paul Ricoeur (2007), Michael Pollak (1992), Maurice Halbwachs (2003), Jean
Chevalier (2018), and others. We will go through memory by rescuing the objects and places that incite the process of
remembrance of the protagonist and other characters who will assist in the recount of the civil war in Angola.