“Let us look in silence, let us learn to listen”. Saramago’s trans-Iberism and the ecocritical and decolonial debate

Abstract

This study aims to demonstrate the importance of Saramago's trans-iberist reflections not only for the interpretation of history, but also for the analysis of political and cultural actuality. Besides a brief recapitulation of the origins of trans-Iberism in Saramago's work and thought, attention will focus, above all, on a proposal to link them to ecocritical (Donna Haraway) and decolonial (Grada Kilomba) perspectives. An attempt is made to contextualise trans-Iberism in relation to current debates on colonialism, racism and other exclusionary discourses (in the media, in history teaching, in literary criticism, in literature and other arts). Avenues of further theoretical development of the trans-Iberist idea are proposed.