Germs of the empire: Portuguese filmic representations of Africa
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Abstract
This thesis analyzes internationally recognized Portuguese filmmakers Manoel de Oliveira, Miguel Gomes, Pedro Costa, Fernando Vendrell, and Filipa César's diverse representations of Portuguese colonialism and their effect on Lusophone Africa and its inhabitants. These filmmakers set their films across Lusophone Africa to criticize both Portugal’s colonial past and its current relationship with its former colonies. This thesis argues three ways in which Portuguese films have worked to denounce Portugal’s exploitation of Lusophone Africa: (1) by criticizing Portugal’s lasting desire for expansion but ultimately reproducing a benevolent view of the country’s relationship to its colonies; (2) by investigating the effects of colonialism and its direct influence on the livelihood of native Africans; and (3) by using archival footage and culturally specific African social practices to rewrite Portugal’s glorified depiction of the colonial period. I argue that all of these strategies unveil and criticize Portugal’s historical relations with its former colonies, albeit to different degrees of success. Whereas these films’ stance vis-à-vis colonialism is an ostensibly critical one, some of them, in setting their narratives in Lusophone Africa, risk reproducing an imperial gaze toward the African other.
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2025