Nuno Fox
Today we celebrate the life and work of Ana Paula Tavares, who celebrates her 73rd birthday this October 30th, after having been acclaimed winner of the 37th edition of the prestigious Camões Prize on the 8th.
The literary recognition of the poet and historian sets the tone for this conversation with Georgina Angélica and Paula Cardoso, which began with a proposal to re-read the work “Ritos de Passagem”.
Four decades after the publication, which marked her editorial debut, does Ana Paula Tavares find new meanings in the words she wrote back then?
“Lately, not only because of the award and the interviews it provoked, I felt a great need to return to the principles, to a language that I chose, and which had, let’s say, some fruits of the Angolan biome, of the things that are Angolan, and of the things that arrived in the country, among the many transits, and the thousands of migrants who were creating that historical, social, psychological and linguistic entity that is the Angola of our days”.
Nuno Fox
In this exercise of returning to the beginning, the poet notes that there is still a lot “to name, to treat poetically”, an observation that calls for “a new cycle of fruits, to be transformed once again into the object of the poem”.
Perhaps this will result in a revisit to the “Rites of Passage”, anticipates Ana Paula, who in this episode of O Tal Podcast shares other revisits of her story, still unknown to many.
“The look of astonishment with which my neighbors now look at me is very funny. They say: I saw someone who looked so much like you on television. And I’m not clearing up this little mistake. Otherwise, life continues as normal”, he guarantees, going back to the times of anti-colonial mobilization.
Nuno Fox
“Around the age of 18, 19, I was surprised by the great task of trying to do something for Angola. I’m not saying that right then I was aware of joining the armed struggle, or taking strong political positions, but, especially with the guidance of older people, there was a way to try to participate and above all teach adults to become literate.”
The commitment to national liberation followed a break with the church – “around the age of 16, 17” –, an experience that the poet recalls through its connection to missionary camping, an “absolutely colonial” project, inserted “within those norms of evangelizing indigenous people”.
“We were a group of girls, and we went to the countryside, with older women, to teach the women, for example, how to bathe babies, how to dress them, how to do little things as if they hadn’t had centuries of teaching on how to take care of their children”, she describes, highlighting the learning experience.
“It forced me to look at others, with a different perspective. That’s when I started to ask: after all, whose side am I on?”
Nuno Fox
In addition to individual questions and collective interpellations, Ana Paula Tavares covers, in this episode, more and less prohibited readings; reveals a deep connection to his daughter and grandson; surprises with its musical vein; tells how he used the word as an instrument of power, and shares a ‘family order’ that remains to be unwrapped. “My grandmother Felicidade told me many times: you were the first person in your family to study, so you have the obligation to tell my story, that of your other grandmother, that of your mother and yours. And I will even give you a title: “The Daughters of Poor Luck”. I was never able to write”.
Find out why by listening to the full episode here.
Nuno Fox
Tal Podcast is a weekly podcast dedicated to interpersonal relationships and human affection. Through in-depth conversations with notable guests, the podcast reveals an original narrative and opens the doors to an international community of reflection and interest.
A pioneer in black and Afro-descendant culture in Portugal, it is a space where all lives fit, emotionally linked by experiences of trials and stories of humanization.
In long unscripted conversations, Georgina Angélica and Paula Cardoso present special guests, in new episodes, every Thursday on the Expresso, SIC and SIC Notícias websites or any podcast platform.
Tiago Pereira Santos with Nuno Fox
Georgina Angelica is a specialist in Education and Social Intervention. She works as an educator, trainer and speaker, with more than 20 years of experience in Portugal, England and Angola.
Paula Cardoso is the founder of the network Afrolink and author of the children’s book series ‘Força Africana’. She is also the presenter of the TV program “Rumos”, broadcast on RTP África.
Listen to more episodes of O Tal Podcast here:
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