The Colour of the Other in the Modern Portuguese Youth Novel: A Reading of the Books 'Uma Questão de Cor', by Ana Saldanha and 'Baunilha e Chocolate', by Ana Meireles

Abstract

The word 'cor' (colour), applied in the Portuguese language to globally designate all the various components of the colour spectrum, and also the terms referred to by each of these components, today presents metaphorical or metonymical extensions of its original meanings, having acquired different semantic contents that are to a great extent culturally constructed and determined. In this paper, I limit myself to the Portuguese case since, although the same phenomenon undoubtedly takes place in other languages, the present metaphorical or metonymical meanings certainly vary from culture to culture. One of the most paradigmatic cases relates to the meanings acquired by the words 'cor' (colour), 'preto/negro' (black/negro), and, in opposition, the word 'branco' (white) within the framework of Portuguese colonial and postcolonial discourses. Based on the analysis of two Portuguese youth novels, 'Uma Questão de Cor', 2010, by Ana Saldanha and 'Baunilha e Chocolate', 2001, by Ana Meireles, I reflect here on how these terms—and the concepts they relate to—, represent and simultaneously contribute towards the construction of an otherness, based on the matter of (skin) colour.