João Antônio

a ‘weaver’ of the decolonial voice

Abstract

In 1960, João Antônio wrote that, in his view, in snooker, the ‘amarrador’ is an experienced partner, as he knows how to hold back. The aim of this article is, therefore, to discuss how the poetic and, at the same time, “amarrador” gaze of the journalist and writer João Antônio skilfully penetrates the margins to portray to the reader the coloniality rooted in the lives of those who inhabit the peripheries in the author’s writing. Snooker players, street children, car park attendants, and other marginalised figures take centre stage in the short stories, displaying their own distinct language and leading us not only to a reality turned on its head, but also to the poetics of the writer’s unique narrative style. We believe that the voice emanating from these subaltern characters represents decolonial thought, in the broadest sense, as it translates, in literature, the resistance of these individuals who adapt to the adversities of a social system that degrades them and drives them to the ‘necessity’ of forming alliances to survive. To this end, we have selected, from the writer’s work, the short stories “Meninão do Caixote”, from his debut book *Malagueta, Perus e Bacanaço* (1963), and “Guardador” (1992), from the work of the same name. Regarding the concepts of Coloniality/Decoloniality, we will draw upon the work of Aníbal Quijano, Nelson Maldonado-Torres, Walter Mignolo and Luciana Ballestrin.