Having built much of their wealth, power, and identities on imperial expansion, how did the Portuguese and, by extension, Europeans deal with the end of empire? Postcolonial People explores the processes and consequences of decolonization through the histories of over half a million Portuguese settlers who 'returned' following the 1974 Carnation Revolution from Angola, Mozambique, and other parts of Portugal's crumbling empire to their country of origin and citizenship, itself undergoing significant upheaval. Looking comprehensively at the returnees' history and memory for the first time, this book contributes to debates about colonial racism and its afterlives. It studies migration, 'refugeeness,' and integration to expose an apparent paradox: The end of empire and the return migrations it triggered belong to a global history of the twentieth century and are shaped by transnational dynamics. However, they have done nothing to dethrone the primacy of the nation-state. If anything, they have reinforced it.
Christoph Kalter is a Professor of History at the University of Agder. He is the author of "The Discovery of the Third World: Decolonization and the Rise of the New Left in France, c. 1950-1976" (Cambridge University Press, 2016) and of "Postcolonial People. The Return from Africa and the Remaking of Portugal" (Cambridge University Press, 2022).
Practical information
The seminar will be organized as a hybrid event at Håndbiblioteket on the 5th floor in Niels Treschow’s hus, University of Oslo. After the seminar, the History of Capitalism research group invites all participants to continue the conversation over dinner. If you want to join us for dinner after the seminar, please register your attendance by October 25.
Register dinner after the seminar
Join us on Zoom by following this link.
About the event
This event is part of Creative IPR and History of Capitalism's series of open seminars. The research group and project hosts open seminars on the last Monday of every month. This is a public research seminar bringing together researchers and other professionals from across the social sciences, law, the humanities and beyond to present their research or field of expertise followed by a Q&A session.
As of spring 2022, seminars will be hybrid, with the option to attend on Zoom and in person. The seminars are open to all.