This year marks the 50th Anniversary of the independence of Angola,Mozambique, Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe from Portuguese colonial rule, following the independence of Guinea-Bissau two years’ prior. The violent struggles for the liberation of Portuguese-speaking Africa were articulated with the broader project of the African revolution, decolonization on the continent and the wider struggle for the liberation of the Third World. More-than-national politics were variously expressed in the forms of négritude, pan-Africanism, the anti-apartheid movement, Afro-Asian solidarity, the global workers’ movement and tri-continentalism.

This workshop seeks to examine critically the rich intellectual, political and cultural exchanges that took place in the context of revolution in and between Africa and Latin America, 1950-1990. We posit that this period was characterized by an energetic, if flawed, search for a theory and practice of liberation adequate to the project of revolution and decolonization in the Third World. Our approach proposes to consider the critical exchanges of ideas, themes and concepts that informed and underpinned the projects of liberation in Africa and beyond.

Our aim is to explore how these interactions can nuance our historical understanding of revolutionary exchange and shape our present conceptions of revolution and liberation on the continent and beyond.We seek to stage comparative discussions between researchers, writers and activists working on a range of historical periods and geographical regions, with a view to future collaborations.

Call for papers (.pdf)

Organization

Georgia Nasseh (University of Cambridge)

Giulia Dickmans (Freie Universität Berlin)

Raquel Ribeiro (FCSH – NOVA)

Tom Stennett (Investigador independente)