Libolo project presented in Beijing

The Book of the Libolo Project was presented at International Day of the Portuguese Language and Culture, a ceremony celebrated by the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP). This year’s celebration was held in Beijing.

The Libolo Project covers the study of the linguistic, historical, and anthropological aspects of the Libolo Municipality in Angola’s South Kwanza Province.

The book was presented at the invitation of the Embassy of the Republic of Angola in China by the coordinator of the Libolo Project, Carlos Figueiredo, who is a senior instructor from the University of Macau’s (UM) Department of Portuguese.

According to a statement issued by UM, the project allows for a better understanding of the connections within the MSAR, the whole Angola, other African-
Atlantic Portuguese-
speaking countries, Brazil, and Caribbean American countries.

Between the 16th century and the late 19th century, thousands of slaves were taken from Libolo to these places by Portuguese, Dutch, English, and French slave ships.

Composed of 18 scholars from nine universities in Macau, Brazil, and Angola, the project’s team has been collecting and analyzing oral data and rare manuscripts on the historical, anthropological, and linguistic aspects of the Libolo region.

The studies that focus on the language contact in Libolo between the Portuguese language and the African Bantu language spoken in the region provide an opportunity to analyze the grammatical features exchanged between these two languages.

Notable participants in the ceremony, among the 400 guests, included diplomats from the CPLP in China and the Portuguese Finance Minister, Mário Centeno.