Presentation of the Dossier "Amazon(s) and Africa(s): Political, Economic, and Sociocultural Connections"

Manuel Henriques Matine — 2025-04-03

Linguistic Re-Signification in Mozambique

Sóstenes Valente Rêgo — 2025-04-01

The article addresses linguistic and cultural aspects of Mozambique related to Portuguese colonization and the actions of successive governments of independent Mozambique, with the aim of identifying, correcting, and re-signifying cultural, linguistic, symbolic, and mythological inaccuracies committed during these two periods, which negatively and permanently affected the issues mentioned above. It also aims to advocate for the re-Africanization of the spirits of Africans and the strengthening of cultural identity. This approach uses a methodology that is appropriate and adapted to the oral cultures and traditions, whose sources are inscribed in nature and society, in which the author(s) are the linguistic community itself — the elders, guardians, living libraries of ancestral knowledge. Since this is research about Mozambique — Africa, it would make little sense to use a methodology disconnected from Sub-Saharan realities. It appears to be an innovative approach and may be of interest to academia insofar as it is part of the struggles of the peoples of the Global South for their liberation and cultural, linguistic, academic, epistemological, mental, spiritual decolonization, and the consequent re-Africanization of spirits (Amílcar Cabral) and the assertion of Afrocentric epistemologies, consistent with the realities of these spaces in question — a sine qua non condition for the development of these countries. The data analyzed are corruptions of anthroponyms, chrononyms, eponyms, toponyms, etc., scattered throughout Mozambique, which were deliberately destroyed and replaced by Portuguese labels, attempting to erase ancestral African memories — memories that are essential to seek to correct and restore. They imposed their names on territories and people such as the Americas, Brazil (Pindorama), Mozambique, António, Conceição, Domingos, Patrícia, through baptisms, standards, branding with hot iron, even when people already had their ethnic names. To assign another identity or name is the art of destroying authenticity, a subtle form of domination and occupation (Nêgo Bispo). The eradication of indigenous languages in colonized areas, the annihilation or looting of local knowledge, the alienation of entire peoples — these are all strategies of the same crimes against humanity. They even criminalized (prohibited) the cultures, languages, and religions of the colonized. They were to be the sole holders of cultures, languages, knowledge, religions, and civilizations. The writings of colonialists about the colonized peoples are full of distortions and traps. All peoples possess knowledge, skills, and wisdom, but the monolithic worldview of a single God, a single truth or certainty (The Principle of Uncertainty), a single way of being and existing, does not recognize polytheism, multiple and fluid truths, or other ways of being and living. For these forces, all other peoples are seen as sub-human, devoid of knowledge, pagans, etc. The absence of written records by the native peoples of Mozambique complicates the recovery of what was destroyed — but it is not impossible. Some knowledge has survived to this day through polytheistic cosmologies and oral transmission from generation to generation (Nêgo Bispo). This article, written from orality, with oral sources, is an effort towards the revitalization of ancestral memories that were destroyed and erased by invaders and colonizers, learning from orality in order to rewrite and restore what was destroyed. Because “no one can speak better about the life of a people than their songs” (Nêgo Bispo). Therefore, there are few written sources. In this sense, the concepts and methodologies used were reviewed and updated to suit spaces of oral traditions and cultures, where writing is marginal, limited, and restricted to official and elitist domains. This has direct implications for the written bibliography, which ends up being scarce; oral sources, on the other hand, are original/primary because they are obtained first-hand from the very protagonists — the cultural and linguistic community. It is unreasonable for Western paradigms to consider the millennia-old oral cultures of most peoples around the world as “non-cultures.” This notion has become widespread and has kept many valuable types of knowledge away from science.

The Koumpo

Eugène Tavares — 2025-04-03

The koumpo is a mask that plays an important role in the cultural life of the people of Ziguinchor. It is considered a mystical, mythical, sacred and profane character. It accompanies key events in social life and plays a part in the traditional education of young people, shaping their cultural imagination. Like the kankourang, it fights evil spirits and protects the inhabitants. Like all masks, the koumpo obeys a set of rituals whose secrets are known only to the initiated. In the past, the city of Ziguinchor had many sacred koumpo woods, the most important of which were the sacred woods of Boucotte, Kandé, Santhiaba and Tilène. The aim of this contribution is to provide a better understanding of this mythical character and to revisit his place in the cultural space of Ziguinchor, a region considered to be one of the most multicultural and cosmopolitan in Senegal.

Appeasing the Spirits, Illuminating Visions, and Self-Defense

Maria Henrique Fernando — 2025-04-03

The objective of this article is to explore the social grammar associated with the capulanas of the tinyanga. The study is based on data collected through field research conducted in the city of Maputo, complemented by academic analyses from other researchers. The central argument highlights the significant presence of capulanas in the daily lives of the tinyanga, both as attire and as a tool of their practice. In the former case, capulanas are worn freely in various social contexts and situations, outside any formal normative framework. As a working tool, they embody a set of communicative codes used to appease spirits, enhance visions, and serve as a means of self-protection.

Editorial

Ludolf Waldmann Júnior — 2025-04-01

Somanlu: Journal of Amazonian Studies

Presentation of the Dossier "Amazon(s) and Africa(s): Political, Economic, and Sociocultural Connections"

Linguistic Re-Signification in Mozambique

The Koumpo

Appeasing the Spirits, Illuminating Visions, and Self-Defense

Editorial