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The Postcolonial in Portugal and Portuguese-speaking Africa

Module description

What is the postcolonial condition and how useful is this concept in thinking about cultural production in Portugal and Portuguese-speaking Africa? In what ways do European (Portuguese) and African (Mozambican and Angolan) artists engage with the histories and legacies of Portuguese colonial rule? These are the central questions that drive this course on contemporary fiction and film produced in Portugal, Angola and Mozambique, in which you will study recently produced films and literary texts and discuss seminal works of postcolonial theory.. Texts will be taught in English translation, although students of Portuguese are strongly encouraged to read the texts and watch the films in the original language.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module will introduce you to the exciting array of contemporary fiction and film being produced in Portugal, Angola and Mozambique. You will study the ways in which writers and directors engage with the histories and legacies of Portuguese colonialism, paying attention to: race, gender and class relations in post-colonial Portugal, Mozambique and Angola; the different ways in which colonial history is reconstructed by authors and directors; and, questions over how to represent Africa in texts and on the screen. In the course, you will take an interdisciplinary approach whereby you will consider the intersections between culture, history, geography and politics. The study of the primary materials will be accompanied by discussion of key texts from postcolonial theory. You will be invited to reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of the postcolonial as a critical framework. Additionally, you will draw links between the texts, films and scholarship studied and current cultural and political issues from Portugal, Angola and Mozambique, so that you will be able to situate the material studied within a wider context. Participation in this module does not require any prior knowledge of Portuguese language or culture. 

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Discuss post-1974 Portuguese, Angolan and Mozambican literature and film in context
• 2. Consider the intersections of history, geography, culture and politics in Lusophone postcolonial literatures

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Analyse key texts from Portugal, Angola and Mozambique in dialogue with theoretical texts from postcolonial theory
• 4. Argue cogently in register-appropriate English, using supporting quotation from primary and secondary sources
• 5. Demonstrate close reading/interpretation skills through analysis of formal techniques and language

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 6. Demonstrate independent critical thinking
• 7. Show sensitivity to the specificities of film and literature as modes of expression

Syllabus plan

While content may vary from year to year, it is expected that the module will cover:

• Dislocation After the End of Empire: Dulce Maria Cardoso, The Return (novel, 2016)
• Identity in Post-colonial Portugal: Djaimilia Pereira de Almeida, That Hair (novella, 2015)
• Remembering Colonial Cape Verde from Lisbon: Pedro Costa, Horse Money (film, 2014)
• History and Ideology in Post-independence Mozambique: Ungulani Ba Ka Khosa, Ualalapi (novella, 1987)
• The Complexities of Mozambique’s Regional Contexts: Lília Momplé, Neighbours (novella, 1995)
• Internal Displacement and the Angolan Civil War: Maria João Ganga, Na Cidade Vazia (Film, 2004)
• Angola and Cold-War Context: Ondjaki, Granma Nineteen and the Soviet’s Secret (2008)

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Primary Reading

• Dulce Maria Cardoso. 2016. The Return. Translated by Angel Gurria-Quintana. London: MacLehose Press.
• Djaimilia Pereira de Almeida. 2020.That Hair. Translated by Eric. M. B. Becker. Portland: Tin House Books.
• Ungulani Ba Ka Khosa. 2017. Ualalapi. Translated by Richard Bartlett and Isaura de Oliveira. Dartmouth, Massachussets: Tagus Press.
• Lília Momplé. 1995. Neighbours: The Story of a Murder. Translated by Richard Bartlett and Isaura de Oliveira. Oxford: Heinemann.
• Ondjaki. 2014. Granma Nineteen and the Soviet’s Secret. Translated by Stephen Henighan. Windsor, Ontario: Biblioasis.

Primary Viewing

• Cavalo Dinheiro. 2014. Dir. Pedro Costa(Film).
• Na Cidade Vazia. 2004. Dir. Maria João Ganga(Film).

Secondary Reading

You will be offered a reading pack, made available online, with the following key postcolonial theory essays, for discussion in seminars.

• Ferreira, Ana Paula, ‘Specificity without Exceptionalism: Towards a Critical Lusophone Postcoloniality’. In: Paulo de Medeiros (Ed.), Lusophones Literatures and Postcolonialism. University of Utrecht, Portuguese Studies Center. 21-40.
• Mbembe, Achille. 2001. ‘Time on the Move’. In: On the Postcolony. Berkeley: University of California Press. 1-23.
• Parry, Benita. 1987. ‘Problems in Current Theories of Colonial Discourse’. In: Postcolonial Studies: A Materialist Critique. London; New York: Routledge. 13-36.
• Santos, Boaventura de Sousa. 2002. ‘Between Prospero and Caliban: Colonialism, Postcolonialism and Interidentity’. Luso-Brazilian Review. 39:2. 9-43.
• Spivak, Gayatri. 1993. ‘Can the Subaltern Speak?’. In: Patrick Williams and Laura Chrisman (Eds.), Colonial Discourse and Post- colonial Theory: A Reader. Edited by. Florence: Taylor and Francis. 66-111.

Indicative learning resources - Other resources

• Almeida, Miguel Vale de. 2004. An Earth-Colored Sea: “Race”, Culture and the Politics of Identity in the Portuguese-Speaking World. New York: Berghahn Books.
• Arenas, Fernando. 2011. ‘Lusophone Africa on Screen: After Utopia and before the end of Hope’. Lusophone Africa: Beyond Independence. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 103-58.
• Ashcroft, Bill. Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin. 1998. Key Concepts in Post-colonial Studies. London: Routledge.
• Birmingham, David. 2018. A Concise History of Portugal, 3^rd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• ___. 2015. A Short History of Modern Angola. London: Hurst and Company.
• Chabal, Patrick. 2002. A History of Postcolonial Lusophone Africa. London: Hurst and Company.
• ___. 1996. The Postcolonial Literature of Lusophone Africa. Illinois; Northwestern University Press.
• Fanon, Frantz. 1986. Black Skin, White Masks. London: Pluto Press.
• Ferreira, Ana Paula. 2020. Women Writing Portuguese Colonialism in Africa. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.
• Hamilton, Russell. 1975. Voices from an Empire: A History of Afro-Portuguese Literature. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
• McClintock, Anne. 1995. Imperial Leather: Race, Gender and Sexuality in the Colonial Contest. New York and London: Routledge.
• Moorman, Marissa. 2001. ‘Of Westerns, Women and War: Re-situating Angolan Cinema and the Nation’. Research in African Literatures. 32: 3. 103-22.
• Mulvey, Laura. 1975. “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”. Screen 16:3. 6-18.
• Murray, Nancy. 1989. “Mozambique: the Revolution and the Bandits: An Interview with Lina Magaia”, in Race and Class: a Journal for Black and Third World Liberation. 30:4. 21-29.
• Newitt, Malyn. 1981. Portugal in Africa: The Last Hundred Years. London: C. Hurst & Co.
• ___. 1995. A History of Mozambique. London: C. Hurst & Co.
• Owen, Hilary. 2007. Mother Africa, Father Marx: Women’s Writing of Mozambique 1948 – 2002. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press.
• Parry, Benita. 2004. Postcolonial Studies: A Materialist Critique. London and New York: Routledge.
• Power, Marcus. 2004. “Post-colonial Cinema and the Reconfiguration of Moçambicanidade”. Lusotopie. 11. 261-78.
• Rothwell, Phillip. 2001. A Postmodern Nationalist: Truth, Orality and Gender in the Work of Mia Couto. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press.
• Sheldon, Kathleen. 2002. Pounders of Grain: A History of Women, Work and Politics in Mozambique. Portsmouth: Heinemann.
• Urdang, Stephanie. 1989. And Still They Dance. Women, War and the Struggle for Change in Mozambique. London: Earthscan Publication Ltd.

Key words search

Lusophone Africa, Portugal, Angola, Mozambique, Postcolonial theory, literature, film, gender, race and class