Module Content and Indicative Topics 

This module explores the colonial, anti-colonial and post-colonial cultural production of the Lusophone world in the 20th and 21st centuries. The first third of the course engages with Portugal, its empire under the Salazar regime, and how it appropriated the Luso-tropicalist theories of the Brazilian sociologist and historian Gilberto Freyre. We will learn about the regime’s scramble for Africa, its management of internal dissent and migration, its position with regard to World War II, and its adoption of Lusotropicalism as a state ideology for the shaping of a Lusophone Atlantic world. We then move to the different ways in which African intellectuals responded through appropriation, adaptation or rejection. This will offer us insights into the radicalisation that lead to armed struggles for independence. The final third of the course explores the memory of Empire in post-1974 Portugal and its former colonies. We will discuss the problem of those who returned from Africa and those who stayed, the ways in which the memory of the colonial wars made its way (or not) into Lusophone literary and film cultures, and the recent development of South-South connections that bypass Portugal and (re)connect Africa directly with Brazil. Along the way, we will watch and discuss films, read some wonderful books, and – time permitting – explore the current boom of post-colonial artwork dealing with the trauma of colonial war. 

This module is taught in English and is open to students not specialising in literature, for example students of History or Political Science. An intermediate level of Portuguese will give you direct access to many originals written in Portuguese, but this is not mandatory. Most materials are available in English, and the available literature is growing fast in the Anglosphere. If you are learning Portuguese, you will find that this course gives you lots to read and listen to in your new language. If you are not, you will still gather important ideas and references for future interactions in the Lusophone world. 

 

The module will cover the following topics, which may be subject to variation depending on developments in academic research and the interests of the class: 

 


	Gilberto Freyre and the Making of Lusotropicalism 
	

	Being White in the Empire and the Exposição do Mundo Português of 1940 
	
	
	Being Black in the Empire and the rise of banal Lusotropicalism 
	
	
	Africa vs Freyre: reverberations, reactions, revolutions 
	
	
	From Independence to Postcolonialism and Postmodernism in Mozambique ( Kuxa Kanema ; Mia Couto’s Terra Sonâmbula / Sleepwalking Land) 
	
	
	Postcolonial Historicism and South-South Relations in Angola (José Eduardo Agualusa’s Nação Crioula / Creole; Cartas para Angola) 
	

	Early Portuguese explorations of colonial trauma (Lídia Jorge’s Costa dos Murmúrios / The Murmury Coast) 
	
	
	Lusotropical legacies and oceanic memories (critical and uncritical Portuguese pop) 
	
	
	The return of the retornados (Isabela de Figueiredo’s Caderno de Memórias Coloniais / Notebook of Colonial Memories) 
	
	
	The Dilemmas of Lusofonia today 
	
 
Teaching Delivery 

This course consists of 10 sessions combining lecture-style presentations of materials with short screenings, groupwork and discussions. Students are expected to prepare for the course by watching some materials listed on Moodle and keep working with the Moodle site throughout. Each session is built on primary readings, AV materials and critical readings amounting to 2-3 hours of preparation time. 

This module was originally developed to cater to students of Portuguese but is now open to students from other areas (including post-graduate students) interested in colonialism, race, empire, the postcolonial and historical memory. 

By the end of the module, you should be able to: 


	Identify key issues pertaining to the recent imperial history of Portugal and the decolonization process in Africa 
	

	Handle critical tools to deconstruct Lusotropicalist discourses 
	

	Discern the politics of race and gender in the colonial and postcolonial Lusophone world 
	

	Perform close readings of texts and audiovisual materials regarding matters of Empire, race, gender, violence, colonial science, imperial nostalgia 
	

	Conduct advanced level research into literary texts and audiovisual materials 
	Recommended Reading and Viewings 
	
In preparation for the module, we advise reading the following core texts and viewing the following films. This is not compulsory. 


	Fantasia Lusitana (2010, dir. João Canijo ): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAtTwRnjXyQ  
	

	A Costa dos Murmúrios (2004, dir. Margarida Cardoso): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?  list=PLgjYZ3OAaBCAZZQ3cQ0ciXLEX2CtuApDr  
	
	
	Terra Sonâmbula (2007, dir. Teresa Prata): https://youtu.be/iukiUyEU-tw  
	
	
	David Birmingham, A Concise History of Portugal, Second Edition (Cambridge: CUP, 2003) 
	
	
	Luís Bernardo Honwana, Nós Matámos o Cão-Tinhoso / We Killed Mangy-Dog (1964) 
	
	
	Mia Couto, Terra Sonâmbula / Sleepwalling Land (1992) 
	

	José Eduardo Agualusa, Nação Crioula / Creole (2002) 
	
	
	Isabela Figueiredo, Caderno de Memórias Coloniais / Notebook of Colonial Memories (2009) 
	
 

The full syllabus, including references and links to many more texts and visual materials, will be available on Moodle. Please contact the tutor with any questions or suggestions before you purchase materials.   