Twenty-first International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

Combining the approaches of literary and creative geography, the paper investigates certain forms of urban marginality in Kinshasa and Lisbon through the analysis of fictional literature and the practice of collage. The investigation is conducted through a textual analysis of two novels, by In Koli Jean Bofane and António Lobo Antunes, and the practice of collage as a form of non-representational visualisation. On the one hand, this involves analysis of those aspects which have to do with the intangible dimensions of space, such as emotions and affects, either in their ephemeral or lasting form. On the other, the research considers the impact that a creative approach can have in decolonising perspectives concerning certain social and cultural issues. Inspired by Deleuze and Guattari, the methodology applied goes beyond the boundary of both fictional literature and literary geography, connecting the narrative materials to the related scientific literature and opening the discourse to urban marginality in the postcolonial city. The practice of collage explores the open-ended nature of place by re-layering past and present, engaging with both the novels and everyday life, and altering textual and visual fragments. The aim is to create a vision of Kinshasa and Lisbon which emphasises fractures and contradictions, underlining the role of colonialism, and considers the place as an unfinished, ongoing process of composition where marginality, survival, dispossession, resistance and exhaustion coexist.