Abstract

This study investigates how spiritualism is represented in Lusophone Angolan literature through critical discourse analysis. The aim is to identify how language works in the representation of the spiritualist tradition as part of the process of decolonisation among national Lusophone writers. This investigation focuses on the analysis of pieces of texts containing words referring to spiritualism in order to understand the societal roles in the Angolan context and the linguistic implications affecting the writers’ choice of certain specific terminology. The extract describing the friendship pact of blood sealed by the four children of José Luandino Vieira’s “Nós, os do Makulusu” demonstrates the importance of the spiritual dimension in Angolan culture. The scene selected contains many religion-related words that evoke the ancestral rituals of communication with spirits and the importance of such a strong bond between humans and the spiritual world. The main words analysed are catandu, maquixe, mupinheira, and quinzare. The reasons behind their selection are the following: 1. They have not been documented in Portuguese lexicons. 2. These are words used in specific contexts and not widely known. 3. In this text they take on a specific semantic and ideological value (the ominous connotation of religious symbols in local practices of Angola). In other words, these terms do not simply refer to the traditional religious practices, but they fit into a bigger picture for the deadly message they convey, beyond the scenes where these terms are found.