DÁ FALA

Call for Papers: Deadline December 31st
Convenors: António Costa Pinto (ICS/UL), Luís Nuno Rodrigues (CEHC/ISCTE), Pedro Aires Oliveira (IHC/FCSH), Miguel Bandeira Jerónimo (ICS/UL).
Scientific Committee: William Roger Louis (University of Texas at Austin), Odd Arne Westad (London School of Economics), John Darwin (Oxford University), Patrick Chabal (King’s College of London), Valentim Alexandre (Instituto de Ciências Sociais da Universidade de Lisboa), Sarah Stockwell (King’s College of London), Frederick Cooper (New York University), Andrew Porter  (King’s College of London), Philip Murphy (Institute of Commonwealth Studies), Martin Shipway (Birkbeck University of London).

In 1961, Portuguese rule in Africa came under severe stress. In its colony of Angola an attempt to release political detainees from the Luanda prisons by Angolan nationalists unleashed a wave of reprisals against the inhabitants of the muceques, thereby undermining the regime’s cherished image of racial harmony. A few weeks later, an uprising in the Northern district of Congo triggered another cycle of violence which would soon evolve to a long and bloody counterinsurgency conflict. Later that year, with the annexation of Goa by Nehru’s India, the Portuguese empire seemed on the verge of collapse. But contrary to many expectations, the first of the European overseas empires would also be the last to be dismantled - a somewhat intriguing fact that continues to puzzle many students of decolonization.

Convened by three of Portugal’s leading research centers, this conference, interdisciplinary in intent, aims to gather contributions in the fields of imperial and colonial history and of decolonization studies, in order to create a comparative framework within which researches about the main social, political, cultural and economic historical processes that led to end of the Portuguese colonial empire can be evaluated and assessed.

The organizers invite the submission of abstracts (max. 200 words) on various aspects of the history of colonial empires and decolonization, with a special focus on the post-World War period, and the Asian and African context in particular.

Sub-panel proposals and individual papers are welcome for any of the following general panels:

·          From Imperial to Post-Colonial Polities and Economies: Elites, Institutions and Political Regimes
·          Imperial and Anti-colonial Ideologies and Movements
·          Colonial Wars/Counterinsurgency campaigns: A Comparative Assessment
·         Decolonization and the International Arena
·          History and Theory of Decolonization: problems, perspectives, and Prospects.

Please send proposals, and a brief CV, to the Convenors (claudia.almeida@ics.ul.pt)  by December 31, 2010.