Portuguese cultural identity: from colonialism to post-colonialism: Social memories, images and representations of identity

This reflection aims to analyse the relation between the memory and identity of the colonial Portuguese in Africa, according to how they were represented in Portuguese cinema until the end of the 20th century. We chose five examples, which we considered most illustrative (three feature-length fictio...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Maria Manuel Baptista
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Centro de Estudos de Comunicação e Sociedade (CECS) 2014-04-01
Series:Comunicação e Sociedade
Subjects:
Online Access:https://revistacomsoc.pt/article/view/919
_version_ 1811223944776122368
author Maria Manuel Baptista
author_facet Maria Manuel Baptista
author_sort Maria Manuel Baptista
collection DOAJ
description This reflection aims to analyse the relation between the memory and identity of the colonial Portuguese in Africa, according to how they were represented in Portuguese cinema until the end of the 20th century. We chose five examples, which we considered most illustrative (three feature-length fictional films and two comedies), which demonstrate the diverse ways in which the Portuguese were represented in terms of identity, as ‘civilising agents’ for the African people.  Thus, we can consider that the cultural identity of the Portuguese in Africa, as portrayed in Portuguese cinema in the 20th century, had three distinct phases: we designated the first as ‘The invention of an Empire’, the second as ‘a Portuguese colonialism’, and a final stage, which is entitled with the expression ‘Exiled from nowhere’. In the final part of this study, we discuss the possibility of understanding colonial and post-colonial identities and memories, from a wide range of modalities related to Myself and the Other, which require the continuation of a (re)construction of memories and identities, in a framework of exercising individual and collection liberty: a work of Sísifo, infinite by nature.
first_indexed 2024-04-12T08:41:03Z
format Article
id doaj.art-c2aed732cd804a59a459d8e88a53d5d6
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 1645-2089
2183-3575
language English
last_indexed 2024-04-12T08:41:03Z
publishDate 2014-04-01
publisher Centro de Estudos de Comunicação e Sociedade (CECS)
record_format Article
series Comunicação e Sociedade
spelling doaj.art-c2aed732cd804a59a459d8e88a53d5d62022-12-22T03:39:53ZengCentro de Estudos de Comunicação e Sociedade (CECS)Comunicação e Sociedade1645-20892183-35752014-04-012428830610.17231/comsoc.24(2013).1789919Portuguese cultural identity: from colonialism to post-colonialism: Social memories, images and representations of identityMaria Manuel Baptista0Departamento e Línguas e Culturas da Universidade de Aveiro e CECS- Universidade do MinhoThis reflection aims to analyse the relation between the memory and identity of the colonial Portuguese in Africa, according to how they were represented in Portuguese cinema until the end of the 20th century. We chose five examples, which we considered most illustrative (three feature-length fictional films and two comedies), which demonstrate the diverse ways in which the Portuguese were represented in terms of identity, as ‘civilising agents’ for the African people.  Thus, we can consider that the cultural identity of the Portuguese in Africa, as portrayed in Portuguese cinema in the 20th century, had three distinct phases: we designated the first as ‘The invention of an Empire’, the second as ‘a Portuguese colonialism’, and a final stage, which is entitled with the expression ‘Exiled from nowhere’. In the final part of this study, we discuss the possibility of understanding colonial and post-colonial identities and memories, from a wide range of modalities related to Myself and the Other, which require the continuation of a (re)construction of memories and identities, in a framework of exercising individual and collection liberty: a work of Sísifo, infinite by nature.https://revistacomsoc.pt/article/view/919Identitycinemacolonialismdecolonizationpost-colonialism
spellingShingle Maria Manuel Baptista
Portuguese cultural identity: from colonialism to post-colonialism: Social memories, images and representations of identity
Comunicação e Sociedade
Identity
cinema
colonialism
decolonization
post-colonialism
title Portuguese cultural identity: from colonialism to post-colonialism: Social memories, images and representations of identity
title_full Portuguese cultural identity: from colonialism to post-colonialism: Social memories, images and representations of identity
title_fullStr Portuguese cultural identity: from colonialism to post-colonialism: Social memories, images and representations of identity
title_full_unstemmed Portuguese cultural identity: from colonialism to post-colonialism: Social memories, images and representations of identity
title_short Portuguese cultural identity: from colonialism to post-colonialism: Social memories, images and representations of identity
title_sort portuguese cultural identity from colonialism to post colonialism social memories images and representations of identity
topic Identity
cinema
colonialism
decolonization
post-colonialism
url https://revistacomsoc.pt/article/view/919
work_keys_str_mv AT mariamanuelbaptista portugueseculturalidentityfromcolonialismtopostcolonialismsocialmemoriesimagesandrepresentationsofidentity