THE CONSTRUCTION OF IDENTITY IN “A RIVER CALLED TIME, A HOUSE CALLED EARTH”, BY MIA COUTO

Abstract

This article aims at the analysis of the novel – A River Called Time, A House Called Earth (2003), by mozambican writer Mia Couto, in light of the concept of identity. This novel brings a narrative contextualized in post-colonialism in Mozambique and the rooting of the oral tradition, in a family saga, written in poetic language. In this article the identity of the character narrator will be analyzed, through the trajectory in the novel, dialoguing with authors whose work is related to the theme addressed, such as Homi k. Bhabha and Stuart Hall, to ground the identity acquired and transformed throughout the context addressed. Noting how ancestry and the sacred are inserted in the African tradition, passed from generation to generation through orality.