A fome em Carolina Maria de Jesus e Josué de Castro: entrelaçamentos entre geografia literária e geografia crítica

Abstract

Geography, throughout its formation as a science, made much use of Literature as a rich source of data about different territorial realities. This fact was changed with the intense positivist vision that took over the scientific scene and broke with the validity of knowledge arising from literary writings in Geography, at the same time that it influenced the consolidation of this field as a science. Based on this, the present work aims to trace an intertwining between Geography and Literature, legitimizing the use of literary products in geographical scientific production, using as a basis the books “Quarto de Despejo: Diário de uma Favelada”, by Carolina Maria de Jesus (2020), as a literary work, and “Geografia da Fome - O Dilema Brasileiro: Pão ou aço”, by Josué de Castro (2022), as an academic book. The specific objectives are: 1) to build a brief history of the transformations faced by Geography; 2) concisely discuss the concept of Right to Literature (Candido, 1981); 3) prepare a survey and characterization of the different literary periods existing in Brazil; and 4) highlight the geographic potential present in literary works, through Análise Textual Discursiva (ATD), used on the selected works. Thus, the research was carried out within the vision of Literary Geography, a recent movement started in Brazil in the 1980s (Monteiro, 2002), in which studies of Geography and Literature are carried out in different approaches. To this end, the current of Critical Geography, whose focus is based on social and political contradictions (Moraes, 1981), came together with Literature, through the Right to Literature (Candido, 1995), a concept that brings the idea that Literature is essential to all humanity for the development of humanization, critical sense and perception of reality. Using ATD as a method, proposed by Moraes and Galiazzi (2016). After establishing this connection and properly applying ATD, the results found highlight the deep connection between Literature and Geography. Through the writings of Carolina Maria de Jesus (2020), three geographic reflections were established, proven by the studies of Josué de Castro (2022). They are: 1) consumption of foodstuffs from Carolina Maria de Jesus' family, meat, bread, rice and potatoes, which correspond to the main foods consumed in the Far-South Region highlighted by Castro (2022); 2) reflection and denunciation by both authors that the situation of hunger in Brazil is linked to the distribution of food, rather than production, therefore, a problem of a political nature; And, 3) the maintenance of the hunger process in Brazil, which has not changed since the publication of “Geografia da Fome” and Quarto de Despejo. It is also understood that this is one of the many aspects that can be worked on when dealing with the use of Literature in Geography, a field that has enormous potential for new research, on different topics.