Revista Mulemba, V. 18, N. 35, jul.-dez. 2026

Dossier: Literature of Guinea-Bissau: Resistance, Struggles, Memory, and Ancestrality

Abstract:

In 1977, Manuel Ferreira, in his book Literaturas africanas de expressão portuguesa [African Literatures of Portuguese Expression], began the chapter on Guinea-Bissau by stating: “[w]e are facing the least expressive chapter of the African literary space of Portuguese expression” (Ferreira, 1977, p. 89). Nearly 50 years after this work, it can be said that the scenario is a different one, given the remarkable growth in new publications and new authors. It is evident that Guinean writers, both men and women, have channeled their fictional and poetic constructs, adding pieces to the national cultural mosaic to develop enunciative projects of this literary nation.
These productions have placed special emphasis on a critical examination of recent History, be it pre-independence or post-independence, in order to “brush history against the grain” (Benjamin, 1994, p. 225), aiming to understand, question, and challenge the country's present. As a result of this perspective, a literature emerges that rescues memories of both the struggle for independence and the wars on Guinean soil; that delves into the country's traditions, revealing itself to the exogenous reader through the Irans, the poilões, the toka-tchur; and, above all, that resists, simply because it exists, even with such high illiteracy rates.
The increase in literary production, in turn, is responsible for the growing interest in research on this literature, as well as the number of critics who have dedicated themselves to investigating Guinea-Bissau. Therefore, in this thematic dossier, we propose to welcome articles that critically debate works from the literary system of Guinea-Bissau, in order to provide an overview of this literature in contemporary times. Thus, investigations that address analyses of literature produced by Guineans, whether within the national territory or in the diaspora, will be accepted.

Keywords: Literature of Guinea-Bissau; Memory; Resistance; Ancestrality.