Nossa Senhora de Lampedosa, Protectress of Slaves and Refugees: On Mourning, Cultural Resilience and the Oniric Dimension of History

Abstract

In recent years events in Lampedusa have offered grievous representations of the tragic impasse of migratory routes across the Mediterranean resulting in thousands of sea burials. These representations have led the author to the story of the cult of Our Lady of Lampedusa and of other brotherhoods of slaves in Brazil devoted to the burial of their members. The “appointment between generations”, evoked by the present migratory crisis in resonance with such images, is the thread the author used in contemplating the oniric dimensions of historical “constellations” and their call to “awake” to practices of reparation. In this respect the ideas of Achille Mbembe about the ways to incorporate historical mourning as a “surplus of life” resonates with psychoanalytical as well as postcolonial insights.