Abstract

Studies on the late colonial dynamics and on the transition from colonial situations into postcolonial societies have remained remarkably few – and astonishingly lifeless – regarding the end of the Portuguese colonial empire. Much of the existing analysis is committed to a political (and diplomatic) historical approach of the classical type, and fares in narratives that offer, at best, precarious empirical foundations. The largest part of this research has so far been uninterested with regard to archival and oral sources; even the handbook standard from early in the first decade of the twenty-first century (Norrie MacQueen’s overview) has never really been updated. Synthesis have more or less flourished, systematic in-depth researches are rarer. For instance, for many regions of sub-Saharan Africa, the question of analyzing the social and labour history of the last years of colonialism and the first years after independence has never really been asked (and the interpretation has barely started); significant methodological discussions and debates on sources have never been properly held. In the Portuguese/Lusophone African case, the deficiencies are particularly notorious, despite the existence of a new generation of innovative studies.

The two-day, workshop-format intense conference will attempt to promote new research concerning the Portuguese late colonial and the early independent societies, promoting a multidimensional and multi-layered approach. The workshop aims to:
(1) push a colonial-postcolonial analysis forward, questioning clear divides and assumed continuities;
(2) move beyond high-politics and include social topics (lato sensu) and social history appraisals;
(3) gather and intersect different analytical perspectives and topics related to late colonialism, decolonization and the post-colonial momentum;
(4) promote a critical assessment and use of archives and sources of various kinds.

Organisers: Miguel Bandeira Jerónimo (Universidade de Coimbra), Alexander Keese (Université de Genève)
 

Mandatory Registration: mbjeronimo@ces.uc.pt