Mila in three stages: the shaping of a cultural identity within the diasporic experience in Esse cabelo, by Djaimilia Pereira de Almeida

Abstract

This article examines the identity formation of Mila, the protagonist of the autofictional novel Esse cabelo by Angolan writer Djaimilia Pereira de Almeida. The study adopts a bibliographical approach grounded in postcolonial and sociocultural theory, drawing on authors such as Bhabha (1998), Hall (1998; 2006), and Bonnici (2012), whose ideas inform the analysis of the African diaspora and cultural hybridity in the character. Mila’s migration from Angola to Portugal in childhood reveals three formative stages marked by identity conflicts related to displacement, non-belonging, and racism. The study concludes that the narrator-protagonist, through literary expression, portrays a journey of self-discovery that culminates in the construction of a transcultural identity. Thus, the article demonstrates how Almeida’s work intertwines personal experience and collective memory in representing the diasporic black woman.