Paper short abstract:

This paper explores how Angolan writers have dealt with nationalism and national identity in their works from the 1960s onwards, studying specifically the different places assigned to the anti-colonial war on the one hand, and the civil war on the other in Angolan novels.

Paper long abstract:

This paper questions the relations between literature, war and nationalism in Angola, and their evolution from a context of anti-colonial struggle followed by civil war and single-party dictatorship, to multi-party politics, capitalism and "peace". It explores the ways in which novels, novellas and poetry written by Angolan writers have dealt with nationalism and violence from the 1960s until nowadays, focusing specifically on the contrast between the civil war on the one hand and the anti-colonial war on the other in Angolan literature.

In the second half of the twentieth century, nationalism and the nationalist struggle became one of the most important themes of Angolan literature, the "raison d'être" of many writers. In the context of the struggle against Portuguese colonialism, literature was considered a nationalist weapon, which denounced the brutality of colonialism while testifying to the country's people, culture, and national aspirations, making the liberation war a founding element of the Angolan nation.

How have Angolan nationalism and literature evolved after independence? How (if at all) has nationalism survived twenty-seven years of civil conflict, and how did Angolan novelists write about this war? By analysing novels by Pepetela, Manuel Rui and Boaventura Cardoso, and comparing them with fictions from younger authors such as Jose Eduardo Agualusa and Ondjaki, I intend to identify the ongoing nationalist project present in Angolan literature, and examine the latter's complex relation to political power in Angola.

Paper short abstract:

Pepetela is considered a constructor of the Angolan nation. A close look into his ethnohistorical accounts of Angola’s history shows that the symbolic boundaries of the nation are drawn in a way that excludes ethnical groups. This antagonism towards ethnicity has political as well as ideological motivations.

Paper long abstract:

In Angola, the argument on the right of nations to self-determination constituted a central element in nationalist discourse, legitimizing armed action against the colonial regime. As in other African countries, this argument concealed a reality that was painful to nationalists - the persistence in Angola of other forms of collective identity, either called ethnical or tribal, some of which had political expression in secessionist movements.

The discussion on the role of ethnicity in the Angolan nation took place in several arenas, one of which was literature. The theme assumes a relevant place in the novels written in the 70's and the 80's by Pepetela, a highly prized, much published Angolan author, especially in Mayombe (1971) and Yaka (1982).

My argument is that in these fictional accounts of Angola's history, which can be called ethnohistorical, the symbolic boundaries of the nation are drawn, excluding ethnical identities. I claim that this antagonism towards ethnicity can be understood by considering a particular political and ideological context. I propose to underline the way the MPLA's nationalist project for Angola is fused with utopian elements, namely a utopia modelled after a Marxist-leninist vision. This fusion produces a nationalist project characterized by a belief in modernity, which combines with a teleological assumption according to which the nation is the place where an idealized society comes into existence. From the belief in historical necessity comes incapacity to discuss and accept alternative visions, symbolically excluding from the nation the groups that carry such visions.

Paper short abstract:

This paper looks at the politics of culture in modern Guinea-Bissau in the film Nha Fala/My Voice (2002) and, in particular, Flora Gomes’s reinterpretation of the country’s traditional understanding of national culture.

Paper long abstract:

This paper looks at the politics of culture in modern Guinea-Bissau in the film Nha Fala/My Voice (2002) and, in particular, Flora Gomes's reinterpretation of the country's traditional understanding of national culture and engagement with oral tradition as a form of questioning instability, political unrest, disunity, and dissenting voices. It argues that it is impossible to examine Gomes's representation of Guinea-Bissau's national culture without an understanding of how these issues relate to Amílcar Cabral — the hero and a mentor of the country's independence to whom he dedicates the film — and his take on the intricate conceptual relationship between 'nation' and 'culture', hence national culture. It then examines Gomes's redefinition of the postcolonial space through engagement with Cabral, in terms of his ideology of the nation and demand for a 'return to the source'. Thirdly, it looks at silence and allegorical dimensions in Nha Fala, critically examining Guinea-Bissau's insecurity, its confrontation of border issues and move away from the traditional pattern of colonial heritage by embracing a wider political arena in Africa. Within silence or mutism, it looks at the cultural, political, and monetary role of France as the new and invisible force which manages the country's economy whilst wrestling Guinea-Bissau away from its Portuguese heritage. It contends that Gomes appropriates existing oral tradition to interrogate social exclusion, unemployment, lack of education and accountability, in order to preserve societal equilibrium, by claiming Cabral's rightful place in modern Guinea-Bissau.

Paper short abstract:

The late 19th century in Mozambique would be marked by the appearance of a white type of nationalism, an ideological phenomenon that will compete with the rise of nativism in urban contexts a few decades later. What is the role of these two movements in the process of early resistance to colonialism?

Paper long abstract:

In the final years of the 19th century, the main urban centers of Mozambique have seen the emergence of a white nationalist current. The phenomenon predates the most acute manifestations of British and German expansionism in the region and can be read as a demonstration of local communities endowed with a political consciousness of itself. This notion in some circumstances served to express divergent point of views regarding the action of colonial authorities while not jeopardizing the basic lines of the Portuguese imperial project.

The process of a "civil society" building but in a "Euro-African" format, as defined by settlers, acquired visible signs of modernity. This kind of nationalist narrative also revealed the assimilation by colonial elites of an autonomist discourse, language that would support political, administrative and decentralization ideas.

This paper aims to identify and characterize the role of this movement by placing it in parallel with the onset of nativism manifestations, thereby contributing to the characterization of proto-nationalism in Portuguese East Africa.

Paper short abstract:

Este artigo investiga a história do uso das categorias de raça, etnia e nação, e sua inter-relação, no contexto do nacionalismo angolano das décadas de 1960 a 1980, através da trajetória dos intelectuais envolvidos no Centro de Estudos Angolanos fundado em Argel em 1964.

Paper long abstract:

Este artigo parte da trajetória de um pequeno grupo de jovens reunidos em torno do Centro de Estudos Angolanos, criado em Argel, em 1964, para investigar as relações entre os esforços simbólicos de construção nacional e outras categorias de identificação coletiva, em especial etnia e raça, historicamente associadas à produção de saberes sobre o continente africano.

O CEA compunha-se de jovens brancos e mestiços, com formação liceal ou universitária, cuja possibilidade de participação na luta de libertação nacional (e na própria nação) foi sempre mediada pela raça, no quadro da disputa entre diversas organizações nacionalistas rivais por legitimidade dentro e fora das fronteiras coloniais. Impedidos de chegar imediatamente às fronteiras onde a guerra de guerrilha se travava, esses jovens empenharam-se em uma "frente ideológica" da luta anticolonial, coletando e sistematizando todo tipo de informações sobre Angola, e esforçando-se por produzir e publicar materiais que revalorizassem e reinterpretassem o passado e os elementos culturais presentes no território - um esforço para o qual a etnia teve sempre um papel fundamental.

Ao acompanhar as trajetórias desses jovens desde seu ingresso na agitação nacionalista até sua chegada a Angola às vésperas da independência, sempre como um prisma por meio do qual analisar os usos práticos múltiplos das categorias de raça, etnia e nação, este artigo pretende contribuir para relativizar certos consensos da história recente de Angola, implicados pelo paradigma da "retomada da iniciativa" e por uma prevalência de classificações associadas a uma dicotomia moderno-tradicional.

Paper short abstract:

Em 1964 é fundado o Instituto Moçambicano, com o objectivo de promover a educação e saúde dos refugiados da guerra de libertação de Moçambique. Recolheu inúmeros apoios humanitários e colocou os estudantes em algumas das melhores universidades da época, formando os líderes do Moçambique actual.

Paper long abstract:

Em 1964 é fundado na Tanzânia, em Dar es Salaam, o Instituto Moçambicano sob a chancela da FRELIMO, e com o apoio do governo tanzaniano, com o objectivo de promover à educação e saúde dos refugiados da guerra de libertação de Moçambique.

Sob a direcção de Janet Mondlane, mulher do primeiro presidente da FRELIMO, Eduardo Mondlane, esta instituição de assistência começou por ter como principal função a educação, enquanto escola secundária, dos jovens refugiados, preparando-os na militância pela causa da libertação e favorecendo o seu prosseguimento de estudos além fronteiras de forma a preparar quadros para o Moçambique independente, acabando por se tornar também na grande angariadora de fundos e condições para que a luta armada prosseguisse, permitindo quer aos guerrilheiros, quer às suas famílias as melhores condições de vida possíveis nos campos de treino e nas zonas libertadas.

Com uma grande rede de contactos internacionais, onde se contam Estados Unidos da América, URSS, China, Holanda, Noruega e Suécia entre outros países, o Instituto Moçambicano conseguiu levar a guerra de libertação além fronteiras, recolhendo inúmeros apoios humanitários e colocando os seus estudantes em algumas das melhores universidades da época.

Actualmente a grande parte dos líderes políticos e administrativos moçambicanos com mais de 50 anos passou pelo Instituto Moçambicano, trazendo assim para a actualidade a memória e o trabalho de uma instituição que formou jovens até ao início da década de 70, mas cujo trabalho humanitário continuou até ao Moçambique independente, herdeiro de uma matriz identitária comum aos objectivos da instituição.

Paper short abstract:

This papers aims to explore the gap between the socialist values of MLSTP and the ‘homeland values’ and inquiry how this gap shaped the political ways of the country in post-independence of São Tomé and Príncipe.

Paper long abstract:

São Tomé and Principe: socialist ideology against 'homeland values'

The independence was a project of very restricted of exiled individuals. In beginnings of 60's, they were supported by the CONCP. For years, the fight against colonial sovereignty was almost inexistent in archipelago, where colonial authorities talked on a political and social peace. After years of quarrels and conflicts, the group of exiled são-toméans almost united itself in 1972. Despite some of individuals lived in Gabon and were not socialist, the MLSTP became supported by the MPLA and the entire became socialist or accepted socialist values.

This papers aims to explore the gap between the political values of exiled activists of MLSTP and the 'homeland values' and inquiry how this gap shaped the political ways of the country in post-independence.

Paper short abstract:

From testimonies of several militants Angolans and various actors of "5" present in the "1st International Conference on the History of MPLA" (Luanda, November 2011), we intend to briefly analyze the speeches.

Paper long abstract:

From testimonies of several militants Angolans and various actors of "5" present in the "1st International Conference on the History of MPLA" (Luanda, November 2011), we intend to briefly analyze the speeches and the trajectories of the same through "symbolic and political capital" ( Pierre Bourdieu) that are present in them.

Paper short abstract:

Estudo que desnuda processos de estruturação no âmbito político, envolvendo dimensões culturais e sócio-económicas, do Cabo Verde Post-Colonial.

Paper long abstract:

Alcances do projeto Partido/Estado em Cabo Verde

Neste estudo emergem evidências de desacertos e desencontros da conjuntura internacional em finais dos anos oitenta, que entravaram projectos que visavam manter uma ordem instaurada com os processos de independência em Cabo Verde. Sobressaem, também, evidências de avanços de ideias do socialismo do leste europeu, assim como as formas de organização do partido, a tomada de poder e formas governamentais de administração, gerenciadas por moldes marxistas/leninistas/stalinistas, onde dimensões de normas, valores, costumes não eram considerados, secundados por intensa pressão e controlo sobre os meios de informação e formação.

Paper short abstract:

Based on historical research and in recent fieldwork in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, this paper will examined the way sport, namely football, became an element of national construction.

Paper long abstract:

Sport is one of the main elements of what Michael Billig called banal nationalism. After their independence, African countries used sport as an instrument to reinforce national identities, and the African lusophone countries were not exceptions to this program. In Mozambique the nationalization of sport after the independence from Portuguese rule in 1975, implied a break with the previous sport organization, dominated by the colonial state and by a large network of clubs and associations controlled by sectors of the colonial settler elite. However, this institutional rupture, which allowed the use of sport as a political tool, did not eliminate the practical and emotional affiliations Mozambicans had towards Portuguese clubs and competitions. The permanence of these affiliations until today shows that the political efforts to nationalize sport had ambiguous results.

Based on historical research and in recent fieldwork in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, this paper will examine the way sport, namely football, became an arena of national construction.

Paper short abstract:

The goal here is to discuss the opposition that was established from the ceasefire between "inside" and "outside". Among those who made the clandestine struggle or who did not fight and that remained in the guerrilla.

Paper long abstract:

The ceasefire between the Portuguese armed forces and the Angolan liberation movements, in 1974, announced the future peace and national independence. The prediction of general elections for the following year led to the installation of movements in the colony. The clash between these movements was violent and started the civil war that devastated the country until 2002. But other disputes were present. The goal here is to discuss the opposition that was established from the ceasefire between "inside" and "outside". Among those who made the clandestine struggle or who did not fight and that remained in the guerrilla. The different political capital were used. Having participated in the guerrilla or been arrested along the anticolonial struggle became crucial factors in the competition for political and adminstrative positions.