About

The book, with  Edições Tinta da China's seal of approval, will be presented by Celeste Fortes and Rita Rainho, with Bruno Sena Martins and Miguel Cardina (CES), co-editors of the book, followed by the screening of the documentary Canhão de Boca by Ângelo Lopes, which discusses the role of Radio Libertação in the struggle for independence of Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde.

Colonialism and Independences: Memories that Cannot Be Lost

Over 40 years past, what do we know about the colonial war and the liberation struggles? What has been lost between the silencing of broad strands of conflict? In different places, what memories persist of the war that changed the face of Portugal and which was crucial for the independence of Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and Sao Tome and Principe?
From the defining dates of the final phase of colonialism, dozens of authors from different areas of knowledge question the history and legacy of these times of change. In these twists of a past made of celebrated moments and uncomfortable secrets, another way of telling the memory of a war with many sides is devised.
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«This is a book on the place of memory and forgetfulness of colonial war and liberation struggles in the definition of democratic and post-colonial Portugal, and the constitution of the former African territories into independent states […]. Indeed, it is one thing to remember the war in the old metropolis, where it today appears as a spectrum of an empire under a long dictatorial regime, another is to remember it in the former colonies which, through it, gained political independence. The selected events have in common the fact that they have produced a memorial ballast present in public discourses and monuments, in social mobilisations, in political appropriations, in more or less persistent silences that tell us how the future lives of these past events have been shaped.» [Introduction]

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Texts by: Aida Freudenthal, Albert Farré, Aniceto Afonso, André Caiado, Amélia Neves de Souto, Ângela Campos, Ângela Benoliel Coutinho, Bruno Sena Martins, Carlos de Matos Gomes, Celeste Fortes, Cláudia Castelo, Cláudio Alves Furtado, Diana Andringa, Elsa Peralta, Fidel Reis, Gerhard Seibert, Helena Wakim Moreno, Inês Nascimento Rodrigues, Isabel Maria Cortesão Casimiro, José Neves, José Pedro Monteiro, Julião Soares Sousa, Justin Pearce, Leonor Pires Martins, Leopoldo Amado, Manuel Loff, Marcelo Bittencourt, Margarida Calafate Ribeiro, Maria Benedita Basto, Maria da Conceição Neto, Maria José Lobo Antunes, Maria Paula Meneses, Michel Cahen, Miguel Bandeira Jerónimo, Miguel Cardina, Miguel de Barros, Mustafah Dhada, Nélida Brito, Odete Semedo, Paulo Lara, Raquel Ribeiro, Redy Wilson Lima, Rita Rainho, Rui Bebiano, Sílvia Roque, Sheila Khan, Susana Martins, Teresa Cruz e Silva, Tiago Matos Silva, Vasco Martins e Verónica Ferreira
 

Organisers: Centre for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra, research projects «CROME - Crossed Memories, Politics of Silence: The Colonial-Liberation Wars in Postcolonial Times», «ECHOES - European Colonial Heritage Modalities in Entangled Cities» and Edições Tinta da China.

Organising partners in Cape Verde: Amílcar Cabral Foundation, Pedro Pires Institute, Cabo Verde University, Centro Nacional de Arte e Design and Oficina de Utopias