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‘Living memories of the changing same’: Rio's linguistic landscape at the crossroads of time and race

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 December 2022

Rodrigo Borba Open the ORCID record for Rodrigo Borba [Opens in a new window] ,
Branca Falabella Fabrício Open the ORCID record for Branca Falabella Fabrício [Opens in a new window]  and
Fátima Lima Open the ORCID record for Fátima Lima [Opens in a new window]
Rodrigo Borba*
Affiliation:
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Branca Falabella Fabrício*
Affiliation:
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Fátima Lima*
Affiliation:
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
*
Address for correspondence: Rodrigo Borba Av. Oswaldo Cruz, 101, apto 1002 Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil CEP 22250-060 rodrigoborba@letras.ufrj.br Branca Falabella Fabrício brancaff@letras.ufrj.br Fátima Lima fatimalima@letras.ufrj.br
Address for correspondence: Rodrigo Borba Av. Oswaldo Cruz, 101, apto 1002 Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil CEP 22250-060 rodrigoborba@letras.ufrj.br Branca Falabella Fabrício brancaff@letras.ufrj.br Fátima Lima fatimalima@letras.ufrj.br
Address for correspondence: Rodrigo Borba Av. Oswaldo Cruz, 101, apto 1002 Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil CEP 22250-060 rodrigoborba@letras.ufrj.br Branca Falabella Fabrício brancaff@letras.ufrj.br Fátima Lima fatimalima@letras.ufrj.br
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Abstract

This article questions the time of white modernity based on historical periodization and sequential progression, arguing for a more multifaceted approach to time and space in linguistic landscapes (LL). It rethinks the concept of chronotope by examining effects of the African diaspora in Brazil. The experience of radical uprooting it promoted fuses spatiotemporal dimensions that operate in complementary directions. On the one hand, a necrotope sets forth submission and destruction. On the other, visceral resistance to obliteration emerges when the timespace of encruzilhadas ‘crossroads’ is produced in the cracks of colonial power. The LL at Pedra do Sal in Rio de Janeiro suggests that approaching timespace from this perspective captures the juxtaposition of stasis and mobility, oppression and resistance, loss and life, past and present. We argue that thinking of time outside and against the Euro-chronometer requires decolonial epistemologies that have the potential to disrupt racist chronologies. (Chronotope, linguistic landscapes, African diaspora, temporality, race, Rio de Janeiro)*

Type
Article
Information
Language in Society , Volume 51 , Special Issue 5: Semiotic Timescapes , November 2022 , pp. 797 - 818
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

*

We are grateful for the insightful suggestions made by the two anonymous reviewers and the comments made by Jaspal Singh and Mie Hiramoto on previous versions of this article. We also thank Michelle Lazar for guiding us so graciously through the process of writing and publication. Any remaining errors are our own.

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