Dialectics of the Overseer

ABSTRACT

This article analyzes how social change and the reproduction of inequalities are represented in the novel Vencidos e degenerados (1915) by the black writer from Maranhão José do Nascimento Moraes (1882-1958). Highlights are given to the way in which the figure of the overseer, more than a recognizable historical or social type, synthesizes the power relations that articulated race, work and power in the post-abolition period.

KEYWORDS:
race; post-abolition; black intelectuals; literature; Maranhão