CfP: A history of the commemoration of the "Portuguese discoveries"

From the late twentieth to the early twenty-first century, Portugal was the
setting of several initiatives commemorating historical events related to the
country’s expansion overseas, namely the fifth centenary of Vasco da
Gama’s maritime journey to India, in 1498, and of Pedro Álvares Cabral’s
arrival in Brazil, in 1500. This commemorative cycle was mainly patronized by
the Portuguese state, which appointed a National Commission for the
Commemoration of the Portuguese Discoveries (1986-2002) and organized
large-scale international events, most notably the Expo’98. Along with the
official commemorations of the “Portuguese discoveries”, there was a boom
of scholarly developments and debates, with an emphasis on the discipline of
History, as well as artistic works in fields such as music and cinema that
engaged with this subject.

Twenty years after Expo’98, "Práticas da História: Journal on Theory,
Historiography and Uses of the Past" calls for contributions for an analysis
and critical reflection on this commemorative cycle. A seminar will be held
in Lisbon, on 18-19 June 2018, with an opening lecture by the historian
António Hespanha. The seminar will focus not only on the Portuguese context,
but also on the ways in which these commemorations were interpreted in other
national contexts, especially Brazil, Angola, São Tomé and Príncipe, Cape
Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Goa, Macau, and East Timor. Suggested
topics include:

- Institutional public or privately-organized commemorative programs;
- Political and activist discourses;
- Journalistic discourses and media representations;
- Editorial initiatives in or outside academia;
- Cultural and artistic productions (including cinema, music, plastic and
performative arts);
- Historiography about the Portuguese expansion overseas and works from other
social sciences and humanities;
- Historiographical and memorialist debates;
- Architectural and urbanistic interventions and heritagization of spaces;
- Teaching and children’s and young adult literature.

Proposals should be sent to praticasdahistoria@gmail.com until 15 April 2018,
in one of the following languages: Portuguese, English, French or Spanish.
Abstracts should contain approximately 500 words and include a brief
biographical note (40 to 60 words). By 24 April, authors will be informed if
their proposal was accepted. If the decision is positive, authors will be
invited to send a written version of the paper, containing 6,000 to 10,000
words and following the journal’s submission guidelines
(http://www.praticasdahistoria.pt/…/s…/submission-guidelines/), until 1
June 2018.

After the paper is presented and discussed at the seminar, authors should
deliver a revised version until 10 July 2018, which will undergo blind
peer-review. Depending on the result of the review process, a final version
will be published in the journal, at the end of 2018.

 

 

Posted: 18-02-2018 | Updated: 14-10-2022