Session
Afro-Brazilian Memory in São Paulo “Japantown”: Racial Entanglements in Marília Marz’s “Indivisivel"
São Paulo's "Japantown" (Portuguese: Bairro "Oriental" da Liberdade) is widely recognized as the largest concentration of Japanese descendants in Brazil. However, this ethnic urban enclave has recently been reclaimed as one of the city's most significant Afro-Brazilian historical sites. This popular tourist destination has become a contested memory zone between local Asian businessmen and grassroots movements such as Movimento Negro (Black Brazilian Movement) and Movimento dos Aflitos (comprising devotees of the Chapel of the Afflicted and Afro-Brazilian activists). This article examines "Indivisível" [Indivisible] (2019), a comic by Afro-Brazilian cartoonist Marília Marz, as a representation of the current contested memory between Asian and Afro-Brazilian perspectives in Liberdade through graphic narrative. While most research on "Indivisível" situates it within the social and historical context of Afro-Brazilian memory in contemporary Liberdade, Marília Marz's dual role as both first-person character and narrator is crucial for understanding the comic within the broader context of memory liberation and contestation in the neighborhood. I argue that Marz undergoes a subjective process of identification with both Blackness and Japanese pop culture, which coexist in tension within her personal experience. This unique perspective enables her to navigate and represent the complex interplay between Afro-Brazilian and Asian narratives in Liberdade.
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