“From the top of my guava tree”

the “crônicas” of Aldir Blanc as a form of epistemological resistance

Abstract

This article intends to formulate a reading hypothesis regarding the memorialistic “crônicas” written by Aldir Blanc for the newspaper O Pasquim in the 1970’s, understanding such production as a practice of epistemological resistance to the Military Dictatorship. At first, the text will analyze how Blanc's metaphors in this textual body relate to the political issues of his time. In a second moment, the choice of Vila Isabel as a scenario will be verified in the light of the epistemicide real estate and urban planning policy operated by the Dictatorship in Rio de Janeiro. Finally, in a third moment, the two previous topics will be related in order to demonstrate that Blanc's metaphors resist epistemicide by transforming Vila Isabel's knowledge into a point of view from which the Dictatorship itself can be read.