Empire, Colonial Wars and Post-Colonialism in the Portuguese Contemporary Imagination
2002; Modern Humanities Research Association; Volume: 18; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/port.2002.0005
ISSN2222-4270
Autores Tópico(s)Historical Education and Society
ResumoEmpire, ColonialWarsandPost-Colonialism in thePortuguese Contemporary Imagination MARGARIDA CALAFATE RIBEIRO In hisstudies on Portuguese society as itoperatesina globalcontext and on Portugal's integration intotheEuropeanCommunity, Boaventura de Sousa Santosconsiders thePortuguese stateto be theprincipal steward of thepolitical, economic andsymbolic dimensions that constitute theprocess throughwhich Portugalbecame part of the European Community. According to Sousa Santos,the politicaland economicharmonization necessary forthe integration of Portugalinto Europe has, in general, introduced a 'melhoriadas condiçõesgeraisde acumulação'. This has givenrisewithinthenationto a feeling of progressand development, overseenand cultivated by the State.As a result,the Portuguese can imaginethemselves as 'Europeans'.ForSousa Santos,itis 'atravésdesta dimensão muitocomplexaque o Estadoregula, sobretudo comdiscursos e actossimbólicos, a dialéctica da distância e da proximidade, da diferença e da identidade,entrePortugale a Europa'.1 In otherwords,through recourseto thesymbolic, theStatediscreetly evades an uncomfortable truth: Portugal wasdistant from a Europeithaddeemed tobecentral. This truth was hiddenbehindthemovement to turnPortugal intoa European country. Portugal's privileged positionin relationto LusophoneAfrican countries, a positionwhichset it apart fromthe restof Europe,was emphasizedfromwithina Europeancontext.Throughthis'regulação', 'um universo imaginário ondePortugal se transforma numpaís europeu igualaos outros, sendoo seumenor graude desenvolvimento considerado simplescaracterística transitória que cabe ao Estadogerir'was created.2 SousaSantosterms thissymbolic construction 'theStateas imagination of thecentre'. Ithaspresided overandcharacterized thepolitical performance oftheStateduring thetransitional processofPortugal's integration into Europe. The 'imaginationof the centre'is, therefore, the conceptof 'Portugal comoumpaíseuropeunomesmopéqueos demais'.3 Sousa Santos'sconceptsare applicableto culturalsettings, as Maria IreneRamalhoSousa Santoshas pointedoutinheranalysisofFernando Pessoa's poetryand philosophy. Read in the lightof Portugal'srecent 1Boaventurade Sousa Santos, *O Estado, as Relações Salariais e o Bem-EstarSocial na Semiperiferia: o caso português',inPortugal:UmRetratoSingular(Porto:Afrontamento, 1993), p. 51. Sousa Santos,p. 51. 3 Sousa Santos, Pela Mão de Alice - O Social e o Político na Pós-Modernidade (Porto: Afrontamento, 1996),p. 136. EMPIRE, COLONIAL WARS AND POST-COLONIALISM 133 history, theseconcepts confirm thatthesymbolic dimension ofPortuguese politics,whichpropagatesthe image of Portugalas the centre,was constructed throughempire.Or rather,it was fashionedthrougha conception ofPortugal as an imperial nationthat,inthesamemanner as today,concealeda secondimageofPortugal morecloselyrelatedto the reality oflifeat theperiphery, while'imagining thecentre'.This second imagesymbolically participates inthecentre. The imagelinking Portugalto a centrality furnished through empire acquireditsmythical origin atthetimethevoyages ofDiscovery began.It isthusanimagethatistiedtotheconsequences ofthemaritime adventure. Os Lusíadasreflects thistextually. In thePortuguese imperial imaginary, thatimagereverberated in Braziland in thevisionsoftheFifth Empire propounded byPadreAntónio Vieira. Throughout theevolution ofnineteenth-century imperialisms, and for mostofthetwentieth century, Portugal wasnever atthecentre ofEuropean movements. The sameis stilltruetodayinrelation to Portugal's position within theEuropeanUnion.However,during theSalazarera,theEstado Novo'sincreasing desire toisolatePortugal - especially after thebeginning ofthecolonialwarinAngolain1961- resulted inthe'imagination ofthe centre'assuminga more abstractand schizophrenic profilein which Portugal was simultaneously thecentre andtheonlymember ofthespace builtforitself, safefrom 'foreign conspiracies'. According tothemyth, this symbolic Narcissusstandsbefore themirror and reflects hisown image, theonlyimagehe loves.Nevertheless, thisimagecould notconcealthe 'displacement'of this centretowards the imperialperiphery, where movements whichwould determine the future of the metropolis were based. It was the country, in AlexandreO'Neill's words,'onde nada acontece',or one 'à espera'as Jorge de Sena saw itin 1972in 'L' Eté au Portugal'. As David Robertson remarked in hisanalysison colonialwar literature, from thebeginning ofthecolonialwar'Africa becomesa mirror in whichtheunspoken and undisguised faceofPortugal is reflected'.4 In thisimperial central periphery, paradoxically, many Portuguese discovered an emptying ofthetraditional centre, thatis,ofthemetropolitan space. Similarly, inAfrica, others imagined a centre as thecorner-stone of'white bastion'resistance in the war. This groupwas protected by so-called Christian Western valueswhichreactedagainsttheadvanceofthe'new infidels'. Itconstructed a centre grounded ina theoretical basethatwas as muchEuropeanas itwasPortuguese. 4David Robertson, 'The Visionof Colonyand Metropolis in Portuguese ColonialWar Literature', inLiterature andWar, ed.byDavidBevan(Amsterdam andAtlanta: Rodopi,1990), p. 156. 134 MARGARIDA CALAFATE RIBEIRO The complexmobility of thecentrein thespace thendefined as the Portuguese worldwas nota newphenomenon. We onlyhaveto think, in relationto the empirein India, about the displacement of the centre towardstheimperial periphery towhichFernãoAlvaresdo Oriente refers inLusitâniaTransformada. Another exampleis therelationship between Portugal and BrazilwhenKingJohnVI's courtmovedto Rio de Janeiro. PadreAntonioVieira'sproposition ofa Fifth Empireis yetanother case. However,thismobility ofthecentre, whileretaining thesametendency to revealPortugal's fragilities, tookdifferent shapesduring theperiodofthe EstadoNovo. Concealedbehinda discourse whichfavoured rhetoric over reality, andusing a supposedly historical foundation, Portugal's vulnerability ,as the centreof its own empire,now transformed into a unique singularity fulfilled onlyinthatempire. Thismadethedistancing between...
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