Juan Zapata Olivella y Manuel Zapata Olivella: An Intellectual and Cultural Dialogue between Two Brothers

Abstract

The purpose of this essay is to establish a dialogue between the historical, literary, cultural, political, and activist work of two Afro-Colombian Caribbean intellectuals who defended an Afrodiasporic and cosmopolitan thought. Through a documentary methodical approach, the essay is developed in three sections: the first one makes a brief review of the life and work of both writers; the second one seeks to address the heroism of the Afro-Colombian heroes of independence centered on the figure of José Prudencio Padilla, from a narrative and historical approach; and the third one focuses on the articulation between novel and freedom from the conception of Olivellian mythical realism, at the intersection between fiction and reality.