Revista Mulemba, v. 16, n. 31 (jul.-dez. 2024)

 

Abstract:

Among the renowned scholars of Mozambican poetry, Ana Mafalda Leite, essayist and poet, defines post-2000 Mozambican poetic production as follows: "poetry is a sheltering form, created to bridge the gap between the self and the world; the gap created between being and existing, between the subject and social reality, allows the poet, homo faber, to use the word to create an alternative world, to become matter and a verbal cosmos" (Leite, 2009, p. 17). A decentralizing gesture of language marks a significant part of this literary production. Some poets write about marginal spaces in Mozambican cities and regions, not just the capital city, Maputo. They reflect on the liquidity of Mozambique's borders and shift the senses and meanings of empirical and political-social issues.

Faced with a world scenario of technological and economic globalization, with the growth of neoliberalism, the acceleration of current capitalist, social and behavioural dynamics, the end of the 16-year old war in Mozambique and the upheaval of the book market, Mozambican poetic voices are being raised reporting many of these issues, rethinking dominant ideologies and certain consolidated positions of the subject in the world. Furthermore, with the creation of the Kuphaluxa Literary Movement Association in 2009 and the Literatas magazine in 2011, the establishment of various literary prizes, the growth of publications by various Mozambican publishers and of individual poetic productions, and the holding of numerous literary events, the panorama of Mozambican poetry from the years 2000-2024 has become quite large.

Given this productive effervescence, the present dossier invites us to think about the multiple threads that stitch together the post-2000 poetic filigree in Mozambique. Therefore, issue 31, volume 17, of Mulemba will consider for publication papers on: the legacy of other generations of Mozambican writers on the poetry scene in Mozambique in the 21st century; the poetic production of women; the manifestations of Poetry Slam; the reflection of lyrical subjects about themselves in contrast to the development of transnational technological-financial capitalism and disruptive temporalities; poetic performance and inter-art dialogue; the relationship with new media technologies; the dynamics of the publishing field.

Keywords: Mozambican literature; contemporaneity; poetry; publishing field.