H-Luso-África - Edição Especial sobre Literaturas Multilíngues do Mundo de Língua Portuguesa

The development of the Portuguese language, and of literature in Portuguese, is deeply intertwined with the histories and legacies of colonialism. From the sixteenth century onwards, Portuguese imperial ventures led to the establishment of colonies and trading posts across Africa, South America, and Asia. As a result, Portuguese became both a colonial language of administration and education and, over time, a vehicle of literary and cultural production in multiple continents. In many regions—such as Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, and São Tomé and Príncipe—Portuguese has existed alongside a wide array of indigenous African languages and Creoles. In Brazil, Portuguese has been shaped by centuries of contact with indigenous Amerindian languages, African languages transported by the transatlantic slave trade, and more recently the languages of European, Asian, and Middle Eastern immigrants. Meanwhile, in Asian territories such as Goa, Macau, and East Timor, Portuguese has intersected with languages such as Konkani, Cantonese, and Tetum. In some spaces, Portuguese has functioned as a language of nation-building; in others, as a residual or community tongue.

These widely varying contexts have generated rich literary responses. Writers across the Portuguese-speaking world have turned to multilingualism to question colonial hierarchies, assert local identities, and explore the anti- and decolonial potential of language. Some deploy code-switching as an act of linguistic affirmation; others experiment with translation and untranslatability. In many cases, multilingualism becomes not only a reflection of sociolinguistic reality but also a literary device through which writers interrogate questions of identity, power, and resistance.

The editors invite contributions that explore the rich and complex multilingual literatures of the Portuguese-speaking world, with a focus on regions shaped by the histories and legacies of colonialism and sustained language contact. The issue aims to examine how multilingualism—both as lived linguistic reality and as literary strategy—has been negotiated, represented, and theorised in literary texts produced across the Portuguese-speaking world.

If you are interested in contributing to this special issue, please submit abstracts (300 words) and titles, along with a short bio (150 words), by 1 November 2025 to the editors Paul Melo e Castro (paul.castro@glasgow.ac.uk) and Georgia Nasseh (gsn25@cam.ac.uk). We are considering the following journals as possible homes for this special issue: Forum for Modern Language Studies, Journal of Literary Multilingualism, Journal of Lusophone Studies, Portuguese Cultural & Literary Studies, Portuguese Studies.

Contact Information

Paul Melo e Castro

University of Glasgow

paul.castro@glasgow.ac.uk

Georgia Nasseh

University of Cambridge

gsn25@cam.ac.uk

Contact Email: gsn25@cam.ac.uk

Prazo: 1 de novembro de 2025

Para mais informações, acesse: https://networks.h-net.org/group/announcements/20125767/cfp-special-issue-multilingual-literatures-portuguese-speaking-world