The Colours of the Empire: Racialized Representations during Portuguese Colonialism (European Anthropology in Translation, 4)

Matos, PatrĂcia Ferraz de

ISBN 10: 0857457624 / ISBN 13: 9780857457622

Published by Berghahn Books, 2013

About this Item

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Colours of the Empire: Racialized Representations during Portuguese Colonialism (European Anthropology in Translation, 4)
• Publisher: Berghahn Books
• Publication Date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0857457624
• ISBN 13: 9780857457622
• Binding: hardcover
• Condition: Good

About this title

Synopsis

The Portuguese Colonial Empire established its base in Africa in the fifteenth century and would not be dissolved until 1975. This book investigates how the different populations under Portuguese rule were represented within the context of the Colonial Empire by examining the relationship between these representations and the meanings attached to the notion of ‘race’. Colour, for example, an apparently objective criterion of classification, became a synonym or near-synonym for ‘race’, a more abstract notion for which attempts were made to establish scientific credibility. Through her analysis of government documents, colonial propaganda materials and interviews, the author employs an anthropological perspective to examine how the existence of racist theories, originating in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, went on to inform the policy of the Estado Novo (Second Republic, 1933–1974) and the production of academic literature on ‘race’ in Portugal. This study provides insight into the relationship between the racist formulations disseminated in Portugal and the racist theories produced from the eighteenth century onward in Europe and beyond.

About the Author

Patrícia Ferraz de Matos is an anthropologist whose work focuses on the history of Portuguese anthropology and Portuguese colonialism. She received the Victor de Sá Prize of Contemporary History 2005 from the Cultural Council of the University of Minho, Portugal, when this work was first published in Portuguese. Her doctoral thesis was devoted to analyzing the work of the Portuguese anthropologist Mendes Correia and the production of the Anthropology School of Porto. At present she is a post doctoral researcher in the Institute of Social Sciences at the University of Lisbon where she works on the international networks underlying the forging of scientific knowledge.