Notes on gender relations in the novel Um rio chamado tempo, uma casa chamada terra of Mia Couto

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to discuss the sexual gender relations in the novel Um rio chamado tempo, uma casa chamada terra (2003), within the dualism of modernity-tradition, in which the main character represents modernity and the island, the traditional world. Our hypothesis is that the so-called modernity that arrives on the island reaffirms a patriarchal and sexist lifestyle, even when the novel seems to indicate a possibility of the “two worlds” positively interfering with each other. It is concluded that this becomes more acute, as women remain in conditions of subordination without a contestation of this status.