About the Journal
About the Journal
Focus and Scope
Mulemba is a journal of the Postgraduate Program in Portuguese Language and Literatures, in Portuguese and African Literatures. It is designed to divulge the production of African Literatures in Portuguese Language, whose teaching has been increasing, mainly after it became a legal requirement, in all Brazilian territory, at different levels of the current education system. The journal also intends to publish comparison texts between Portuguese-speaking African literatures and representative works of other literatures, including other contexts of afrodiasporic experience.
Peer Review Process
The papers will be submitted to an Editorial Board consisted of experts with renowned scientific competence and unquestionable knowledge in the different areas of study covered by the journal. The texts, with no author identification, will be sent to two reviewers through blind peer-reviewing process. Reviewers may suggest changes in structure and content. In case of conflicting assessments, the work is sent to a third member of the editorial board. The opinions will be sent to the authors along with instructions for the changes suggested by the reviewers.
The Editors send each work to two members of the Editorial Commission or “ad hoc” reviewers for examining and evaluating, giving it a rating from 0 to 10. For each number, there will be selected 10 approved papers. The classification criteria consist in the higher average obtained.
Publication Frequency
Mulemba journal is a biannual publication. It publishes studies on African Literatures. The publication is expected to be in June and in December.
Open Access Policy
This journal provides open access to its content, according to the principle that granting freely available scientific knowledge to the public supports a greater global democratization of knowledge.
The journal does not charge for submission, neither any article processing charges (APCs)
Sponsors
Journal’s History
Mulemba is a publication by the African Literatures in the Portuguese Language Sector at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). It was idealized and created in 2009, during the time the Professor Doctor Maria Geralda de Miranda was doing her post-doctoral research, when she had the idea of creating this publication for our Sector. Mulemba journal was first evaluated as a B2 periodical by CAPES. In 2012, CAPES evaluated it as an A2 periodical. In 2016, new CAPES criteria evaluated the journal as a B2 periodical. In 2019, evaluated the journal as a A3 and, in 2023, evaluated the journal as a A4.
The journal is a result of the work developed at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, since 1993, by the by the African Literature docents and substitute professors, scholarship holders, monitors and graduate students in Language and Literature.
The journal proposal is to disseminate the production of the African Literatures, demonstrating how this area has been increasing in quantity and quality for the past decades.
Mulemba’s Proposal
Mulemba is organized by professors of African Literatures, scholarship holders and students from the department of vernacular letters at UFRJ. One of the main goals of the journal is to promote critical and democratic debate, and its purpose is also to disseminate African culture and literature. Mulemba aims to be an open space where scholars in the field – professors, researchers, and students – can present articles resulting from their research. For each issue will be chosen a theme to be addressed in the dossier; however, there will be possibility of publishing articles on various topics, papers. interviews, and reviews.
The name of the journal was chosen with great care. Mulemba was elected considering the significance and symbolism that this tree had and still has for Angolan culture. Mulemba Waxa Ngola – Mulemba from the land of Ngola, also known as mulembeira or ensadeira, “Ficus Thonningii, Blume” – has an imposing height and a vast canopy, whose shade makes the surroundings cold and pleasant. It was under the Mulemba trees that the chiefs of traditional Angolan villages held their assemblies and discussed until their “makas” – that is, their conflicts – were solved.
Considered a sacred pillar, the mulembeira usually stood in the center of villages and constituted a democratic space for debate, a place of stories narrated by the elders. Around this tree, community problems were discussed, omens were foretold, disputes were settled, and contracts were established with the world of ancestors. Thus, the Mulemba had a prominent role in the Angolan mythical-religious context, as it connected the world of humans with that of spirits.
Confirming these meanings about this sacred tree and proving further details and information, we highlight the following entry, taken from the glossary of the thesis by the Angolan writer and historian Ana Paula Tavares:
Mulemba, Ficus Psicolopoga Welw. Ex Warb, Ficus Sicomurus, Phyllantus stuhlmannii Pax, Ficus thoningii Bleim. In Kimbundu – Portuguese dictionaries, Mulêmba, p.Milêmba, whit the synonym Incendeira. In the Cokwe – Portuguese dictionary, there are several entries for the radical Lemba – “a leafy tree from which birdlime is extracted (Ficus Welwitschii); Lemba – prayer, plea, supplication, and also Lemba – ancestor, elder, grandfather.” Whit the spelling Mulemba but synonym Ensandeira occurs in Cadornega, Volume I, p.818 – “It is the tree called in Luanda and its surrounding ensandeira. This tree is called nsanda in Congo; from this word the Portuguese in Congo made the word ensandeira, word passed to Luanda and continued to be used there.” For the regions of the former kingdom of Ndongo, “the permanence and union of kinship groups and their connection with the Múndòngò ancestors came to be ensured by the Mulemba tree, which came to be planted in the center of each new settlement,” Cf. Virgílio Coelho, Em Busca de Kábàsá…, p. 143. Carvalho, Ethnographia, p. 93, the title attribution Capenda – cá-Mulemba, was due to the great abundance of Mulemba trees (Ficus elástica) in the region. Sesinado Marques, travel companion of Henrique de Carvalho, in his O Clima e as Produções de Malange à Luanda, also considers and classifies it, emphasizing its importance, unjustified in his view, as a panacea for multiple diseases, p. 45. Múlê: mb “symbolizes the perpetuation of political title… for the Lunda and for the Lwena too, the two terms for Lannea trees – muyomb and Mulemba – differ in that the former is predominantly a symbol linked to ancestors, while the latter is directly linked to leadership,” Hoover, Seduction, p. 575. “Sacred tree of most ethnic groups of the ‘northeast’. The place of this tree in Tsokwé and Lunda culture is very important. All or almost all villages have a Mulemba that usually marks the place of foundation. It is under its branches that major issues are often discussed, justice is served, honored guests are received, dances are performed, etc. It was under a Mulemba that Lweji first met her future husband, the great Tshibinda Ilunga,” Mesquitela Lima, Fonctions, p. 305, 306. Areia, Les Symboles, p.395, asserts that in the northeast the Mulemba is by excellence the tree linked to ancestor worship. Quoting one of his informants, when pointing to the Kuku figure from the divination basket, he says: “This is Lemba, a person from another time, the Mulemba is to remind Kuku.” Another informant pointing to the tree lined up next to his house asserts that the ancestors reside there and hence the existence of two trees, one for men and other for women. Vancina in How Societies…, pp.239, 240, and note 98, emphasizes the importance of Mulemba as an ancestral tree, unrelated, from the point of view of linguistic roots, to lemba – lémbà – the oldest of all resident brothers of the mother.
By analogy, Mulemba journal aims to be, like this sacred tree, the center of numerous discussions and critiques that analyze literary works and African themes focused on both tradition and modernity. By publishing a wide variety of articles about African writers, poets, and intellectuals, it aims to contribute to increase the visibility of African culture and literatures.
Trees, in general, have the function of purifying the air, controlling soil erosion, and supporting life. Metaphorically, Mulemba journal also aims to be a vital instrument of cultural flourishing and renewal, providing valuable information, disseminating texts, writers, and scholars, encouraging new writings, and breathing fresh life into the literary studies of these African literatures that have long been marginalized from academic and university spaces.
The Publishers.
