Mana. Estudos de Antropologia Social was created in 1995 by a group of lecturers and researchers from one of Brazil's oldest and most traditional institutions of teaching and research in anthropology, the Department of Social Anthropology of the Museu Nacional in Rio de Janeiro. It was planned from the start to serve as an outlet for the discussion of original anthropological research, produced by authors neither necessarily connected to Brazilian institutions, nor necessarily focusing on Brazil and Latin America as the location for their empirical research. The journal has proven highly successful in attaining these aims: it has become a showcase for both the anthropology produced in Brazil and the dynamism of the international debates in the discipline (publishing original papers by both young researchers and acedemically renowned authors from various countries). However, the universalism displayed by the journal's content contrasts with the fact that it is published in Portuguese - a language not associated with the discipline's predominant intellectual traditions and occupying a marginal place in international scientific publishing. Based on this experience, the paper focuses on a number of issues concerning the relations between the formation of national academic spaces and the international circulation of ideas and theoretical models.
Scientific Publishing; Centre-Periphery; International Circulation of Ideas