Race Trouble. Decolonizing race and racial inequality in postcolonial Portugal

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Colonial Senses. Colonial Sensorial Regimes and the Anti-Colonial Resistance

Publication . Silva, Filipe Carreira da; Aboim, Sofia

The colonial experience, a complex tapestry of power dynamics, cultural intersections and historical narratives, has left an indelible mark on the world. It is a phenomenon that transcends mere discourses and categories of identity, delving deep into the realm of the senses. The senses, as the channels through which individuals interact with and comprehend the world, play a crucial role in shaping both colonial, anti-colonial and postcolonial narratives. In this sense, we draw on Michel Serres’s The Five Senses (1985), in which he challenges us to think of the senses as constantly transcending or exceeding the body, “mingling” with the world and each other. This exploration draws on the phenomenology of coloniality, an approach rooted in social science and philosophy that proposes that a phenomenon must be explored within its site, and seeks to understand and analyse the lived experiences of individuals and communities affected by colonialism and its enduring legacies. The term “anti/colonial” encapsulates the inherent conflict of being simultaneously part of and against something, and provides a more nuanced perspective on anti-colonial resistance. The aim of Colonial Senses is to explore the embodied colonial experience and how it remains in the memory, emotions and collective identity of those affected. By paying attention to the sensory experiences of the colonised, the book highlights how the embodied colonial experience has contributed to anti-colonial resistance and post-colonial transformations. It is through the senses that acts of creative resistance to colonial oppression and the dismantling of hierarchical power structures are often initiated. Drawing on a rich tapestry of postcolonial theory, phenomenology, the sensorial turn and memory studies, this book offers a cross-fertilisation of ideas to illuminate the intricacies of colonialism and its sensory regimes. The case study that serves as the basis for our argument is late Portuguese colonialism in Africa, as we aim to make sense of anti-colonial resistance and its sensory possibilities against colonial oppression. We seek to answer two questions: “How did it feel to be colonised?” and, more importantly, “How does it feel to fight colonial oppression?”

2024Book

Restricted access

Race and populism. A comparative study of thatcherism, peronism and the American populists

Publication . Silva, Filipe Carreira da; Brito Vieira, Mónica

This article re-examines the race-populism nexus. It asks: Does populist political construction of the figure of “the people” necessarily involve processes of racial othering? We answer this question by revisiting three emblematic cases of populism. Each historical case illustrates a basic type of identity formation that can have an i) exclusionary, ii) ambivalent or iii) positive impact on racial justice. The first case is Thatcherism, whose “authoritarian populism” feeds on and reinforces anti-Black racial prejudice. The second is Peronism, which has an ambivalent relationship with race that promises to shed important new light on this classic case of populism. The third case is that of the American Populists, whose pioneering experiments in interracial politics remain an enduring illustration of populism’s progressive potential. In each case, we focus on a key document from that political regime/movement: the Conservative Manifesto of 1979, the Peronist Constitution of 1949, and the Omaha Platform of 1892. The article concludes that populism, as a logic of action, acts as a catalyst that intensifies whatever specific content is mobilised – racist and anti-racist content alike.

2024Journal article

Open access

Amilcar Cabral, Colonial Soil and the Politics of Insubmission

Publication . Carreira da Silva, Filipe; Brito Vieira, Monica

This article discusses the concept of “insubmission.” This concept is the cornerstone of Amílcar Cabral’s critical theory. Introduced in his early agronomic writings, it refers to the human species’ refusal to submit to the nature of which we are always a part. The context is the anticolonial critique of traditional European humanism. Insubmission is Cabral’s response to the dehumanising effects of colonialism and the environmental impact of anthropocentric extractivism that accompanies it. As a linchpin in Cabral’s theoretical framework, insubmission serves to structure and impart meaning to other concepts. Notably, it provides fresh insights into the multifaceted concept of “resistance.” Cabral underscores the imperative of combating dehumanisation through physical fortitude (physical and armed resistance), intellectual resilience (cultural resistance), and institutional strength (political resistance). Additionally, it emphasises the necessity of averting environmental catastrophes through a socio-economic development model (economic resistance) underpinned by a resolute ethical commitment to responsible soil conservation practices.

2024-01-26Journal article

Open access

Decolonising the earth: Anticolonialism in the soil of empire

Publication . Carreira da Silva, Filipe; Davidson, Joe P.L.

The relationship between humanity and the soil is an increasingly important topic in social theory. However, conceptualisations of the soil developed by anticolonial thinkers at the high point of the movement for self-determination between the 1940s and the 1970s have remained largely ignored. This is a shame, not least because theorists like Eric Williams, Walter Rodney, Suzanne Césaire and Amílcar Cabral were concerned with the soil. Building on recent work on human-soil relations and decolonial theory, we argue that these four thinkers conceptualised the connection between soil, empire, and anticolonial revolt. Williams and Rodney ground understanding of soil degradation in global relations of economic power, while Césaire and Cabral reconceptualise postcolonial nationhood in terms of the mutability and diversity of the soil. The article concludes by suggesting that these two anticolonial counterpoints, global connectivity and more-than-human identification, anticipate and deepen contemporary attempts to decolonise ecological thinking.

2023-11-29Journal article

Restricted access

Populism: a comparative study of thatcherism, peronism and the american populists

Publication . Carreira da Silva, Filipe; Brito Vieira, Monica

This article re-examines the race-populism nexus. It asks: Does populist political construction of the figure of 'the people' necessarily involve processes of racial othering? We answer this question by revisiting three emblematic cases of populism. Each historical case illustrates a basic type of identity formation that can have an i) exclusionary, ii) ambivalent or iii) positive impact on racial justice. The first case is Thatcherism, whose 'authoritarian populism' feeds on and reinforces anti-Black racial prejudice. The second is Peronism, which has an ambivalent relationship with race that promises to shed important new light on this classic case of populism. The third case is that of the American Populists, whose pioneering experiments in interracial politics remain an enduring illustration of populism's progressive potential. In each case, we focus on a key document from that political regime/movement: the Conservative Manifesto of 1979, the Peronist Constitution of 1949, and the Omaha Platform of 1892. The article concludes that populism, as a logic of action, acts as a catalyst that intensifies whatever specific content is mobilised - racist and anti-racist content alike.

2024-01-26Journal article

Open access