Preamble Narratives and Social Memory - Universidade do Minho

Cabecinhas, R. & Abadia, L. (eds.) (2013)Narratives and social memory: theoretical and methodological approachesBraga: University of MinhoISBN: 978-989-8600-04-2pp. 76 -91The Past and the Present (re)Visited: War Veterans’Representations of the Portuguese Colonial WarAna Figueiredo, Joaquim Pires Valentim,Laurent Licata & Bertjan Doosje1, 2University of Coimbra, Portugal3Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium4University of Amsterdam, The Netherlandsfigueiredo.anacm@gmail.comAbstractThe Portuguese colonial war, which took place between 1961 and 1974, has marked thelife of many individuals who were recruited by the Portuguese Armed Forces to fight inAngola, Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau. In the present study, through a classical contentanalysis of five semi-structured interviews conducted with Portuguese war veterans (nonprofessionaland involved in direct armed conflict in Angola between 1965 and 1972),we investigate their representations of the colonial war. More precisely, we analyze theiremotional processing of the colonial war, as well as the perceptions these veterans held(at the time of the war) and presently hold about Africans from the former colonies.Furthermore, we also analyze their representations of the process of decolonization ofthe former Portuguese colonies in Africa, as a function of their past experiences in thewar. Finally, we analyze the personal consequences that individuals attribute to theirexperience of the war in the present day. This study represents a first step in our analysisof war veterans’ representations of the colonial war and our discussion of results alsoreflects new lines of research for the future.Key wordsPortuguese colonial war; War veterans; Social RepresentationsThe Portuguese colonial war occurred at a time when Portugal was under the NewState dictatorship. This authoritarian regime was effective in Portugal between 1926 and1974, and on April 25 th 1974 there was a peaceful military coup, led by the Armed ForcesMovement, that overthrew the regime and gave way to democracy in the country. One of themain reasons for the military to overthrow the New State Regime was the desire to stop thecolonial war, which had started in 1961. At this time, colonization was already condemnedworldwide and most colonial powers had acknowledged the right to self-determination andindependence of their colonies. However, Portugal refused to grant independence and selfdeterminationin a peaceful way. Already in 1951, there was a revision of the PortugueseConstitution by the New State regime, changing the status of the colonized territoriesfrom “colonies” to “overseas territories”, thus defining Portugal as an intercontinental and