Paper short abstract:

Focusing on the 1950s and 1960s, we will try to draw a cartography of the foreign literary works' circulation among the Portuguese Speaking African Countries, in order to identify what kind of reception was possible among the intellectual groups and how they disseminated these works.

Paper long abstract:

Focusing on the 1950s and the 1960s, we will try to draw a cartography of the foreign literary works' circulation in the Portuguese Speaking African Countries, in order to identify what kind of reception was possible - considering the Portuguese dictatorship and inherent censorship - and perceive the impact of this literature on the intellectual groups and how they disseminated these works.

Names of American actors and writers of African descent (from the USA, Cuba, Argentina, Brazil, etc...), mentions to films and books passed hand to hand are references, sometimes hidden in the verse that enunciates them, or inscribed in the soirées where they were read out loud or in silence, in the newspapers that crossed the Atlantic. All of them built an archive that is urgent to study in order to grasp the ideas that circulated among poets and activists who since the 1950s are linked to the universe of resistance in the former Portuguese colonies. These elements reveal how influential movements such as Négritude and Harlem Renaissance effectively circulated among these groups.

Pursuing this goal our research will rely mainly on correspondence, press, as well as on cultural events and meetings held at Casa dos Estudantes do Império, the most important intellectual and dissemination meeting point.