Ossobó: Myth, History, and Intertextuality in Santomean Literature

In the Portuguese-language literature produced from the dual-island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe, one of the most familiar figures to emerge is the African emerald cuckoo, called ossobó in the local Forro language. This paper traces how the ossobó passed through oral traditions and into the hands of poets and rationalists to be inscribed in the pantheon of great African literary animals and national symbols. Because ossobós were a symbol born of the local oral traditions, and therefore inherently local, as well as a symbol without rigidly defined features, the bird could be employed across time, space, language, and genre as writers grappled with the myths and historical contexts of their own day. By grounding ephemeral discourses in the native oral culture, the ossobó symbolically authenticates literature as uniquely Santomean.