Against the Archive:

Decolonial Historical Fiction and Indigenous Representations in Micheliny Verunschk’s O som do rugido da onça

Resumo

Historical fiction provides a powerful platform to challenge hegemonic narratives and amplify marginalized voices excluded from the archives. However, little attention has been paid to how Indigenous perspectives can reshape understandings of colonialism and capitalism within this genre. This article examines the decolonial historiographical metafiction O Som do Rugido da Onça (Micheliny Verunschk, Brazil, 2021), which recounts the story of an Indigenous girl taken from Brazil to Munich in the 19th century for scientific exhibition. Drawing on literary and historical theories within a decolonial framework, the study analyzes how the novel conveys authenticity, contests the archives and constructs Indigenous subjectivity. Three narrative strategies are examined, labeled here as contradictory records, a non-human narrator, and affirmative speculation. The novel’s river narrator unsettles human-centered historiography by exposing coloniality and gendered oppression while presenting non-anthropocentric cultures as a viable future.