Conference                                           

Archives of Silence: Secret Alliances of Portuguese Colonial War

November 29th, 2011, 10h00, Room 1, CES-Coimbra

Programme | Registration

Setting:

This year 50 years have gone by since the beginning of Portuguese Colonial War. The subject of Colonial War has been facing new revelations which arouse debates over the meaning of that war and of nationalist fights leading to the independence processes in mid-1970s. Questioning the colonial implies raising many questions, in former colonial metropolitan spaces as well as in several colonial contexts. This relation forces us to re-think time in history and History itself. The fight for the independence of Angola, of Guinea and of Mozambique was intimately linked to other geopolitical processes, to support from the African continent and to the persistence of fascism in Portugal. Nevertheless, much remains to be said about Colonial War and its geostrategic implications in the Cold War context.

The growing rhythm of polemics associated with this conflict faces, however, the slow rhythm of academic knowledge constitution. This colloquium strives to cross regards and perspectives over the last stage of the Portuguese colonial history, making way to a deeper analysis of the distinct subjects and speeches locked within this violent process, integrating intervenients from different paths. It intends, likewise, to deepen the knowledge over the contours and implications of the Alcora Exercise, an alliance never publicly known which Portugal established with South Africa and Rhodesia in 1970, to support its fight against nationalist movements in Colonial War. In this sense, the alliance established through the Alcora Exercise offers important elements to confront already established visions about Colonial War and to a better understanding of its consequences.

FREE ENTRANCE, SUBJECT TO AVAILABLE SEATS. REGISTRATION NEEDED.

Activity linked to the projects “Alcora – Novas perspectivas da Guerra Colonial: alianças secretas e mapas imaginados”, “Comprometidos: questionando o futuro do passado em Moçambique”, “Vidas Marcadas pela História: a Guerra Colonial portuguesa e os Deficientes das Forças Armadas”

Organization: Maria Paula Meneses e Bruno Sena Martins.