Introducing ‘Dictatorships in Portuguese: Legacies and Repercussions’: The Latest Special Collection from MLO

An abstract red graphic of flower petals to the right of the collection title written in white text: 'Dictatorships in Portuguese: Legacies and Repercussions' a special collection from Modern Languages Open.

We are delighted to introduce ‘Dictatorships in Portuguese — Legacies and Repercussions‘, the latest special collection from Modern Languages Open. The range of articles contained within this collection aims to offer an interdisciplinary research-led dialogue concerning the after-effects of two of the most relevant dictatorships of the Lusophone world in the last century, the Brazilian military dictatorship and the Portuguese Estado Novo.

Here, the editor of the collection, Dr Rosane Carneiro Ramos (University of Bristol) provides a backdrop for the research which aims to encourage reflection on how we engage with the sociocultural ramifications of these two periods stemming from the past and influencing the present day.

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This Special Collection focuses on the intersection of literature, cinema, the social sciences, history, and international relations in its examination of twentieth-century dictatorial periods in Brazil and Portugal. While two of the articles analyse historical and political relational aspects between the Brazilian and Portuguese regimes, the other four reveal the complexities of the relationships between cultural products, politics, and history.

Carnation Revolution (image courtesy of Dr Rosane Carneiro Ramos) — Carnation Revolution (Image: reproduction)

In ‘The Long Twentieth Century in Portuguese: An Age Tending to One Extreme’, Cesar Zanin employs an original methodology to conduct a comparative examination of democracy and authoritarianism in Brazil and Portugal. He investigates timeframes within the struggle for political power, adopting an approach grounded in Julian Steward’s multilinear evolutionary social theory and Eric Hobsbawm’s method of periodisation. Portugal and Brazil are once again analysed together by Enio Viterbo in ‘Brazil and the Events of 25 April, 1974: Monitoring, Following, and Repressing’. Viterbo’s study addresses how the Brazilian military dictatorship received and monitored the Portuguese Carnation Revolution, examining sources linked to Brazilian intelligence services between 1964 and 1974. His article deals with a topic still understudied in Portuguese and Latin American historiography, drawing on extensive documentary research to offer a novel analysis of the subject.

Literature serves as the foundation for the analyses by Cimara Valim de Melo and Gustavo Infante. Melo’s article explores the intersection of ecocriticism and women’s writing in Brazil, while Infante’s examines affective negotiations and their repercussions within Portuguese families following the Carnation Revolution. In ‘Traces of Repression in History and Literature: Indigenous Voices Represented by Márcia Kambeba and Sandra Godinho’, Melo adopts an ecocritical approach, analysing works by authors Kambeba and Godinho as emblematic of the literature of memory and resistance in contemporary Brazil. Her article explores the impacts of the military dictatorship on Indigenous populations and their representation by Indigenous and non-Indigenous female writers. Meanwhile, the novel Revolução (2023) serves as a case study for Infante to discuss themes such as colonial legacy, gender roles, and clandestine political involvement in ‘The Revolutions in Hugo Gonçalves’s ‘Revolução’’. Infante’s article analyses Gonçalves’s work to highlight the personal revolutions experienced by the Portuguese people in the context of 25 April, 1974, and their legacies within Portugal’s current political landscape.

Memórias da Ditadura - Arquivo Nacional (image courtesy of Dr Rosane Carneiro Ramos) — Memórias da Ditadura – Arquivo Nacional

Audiovisual production is examined in articles by Christian Dutilleux and Rosane Carneiro Ramos. Cinema and television join literature in Dutilleux’s study, ‘A sombra dos ausentes: o impacto do desaparecimento de pessoas na cultura brasileira contemporânea’. Presented in Portuguese, Dutilleux’s article proposes a model for understanding disappearances in Brazil. The study investigates the evolution of the phenomenon of disappearances in the country, spanning the period from the 1964–1985 dictatorship to the present day. At the same time, Dutilleux’s work offers a profound reflection on the forms of invisibility present in the public sphere and in Brazilian artistic productions. Cinema—specifically the work of Lucia Murat—forms the basis of Rosane Carneiro Ramos’s study. The article ‘The Non-Agreed Memory of Lucia Murat: Women During Dictatorship from a Filmic Perspective’ analyses the films Que bom te ver viva (1989) and A memória que me contam (2012), as works navigating the space between collective memory and the specific experience of women as targets of gender-based hatred during the repression in Brazil. By articulating film analysis, political history and feminist theory, the article discusses the impact of repression on women today, proposing a discussion taking shape from a Latin American perspective.

Debating these periods of authoritarianism in Brazil and Portugal remains essential, given the political and sociocultural sequelae still felt today—and so aptly analysed in the articles of this collection. A profound and prismatic analysis of these regimes is required, one that aligns with contemporary interpretive demands amidst the disruptive changes in the current world geopolitical landscape. It is hoped that such discussions will help reframe the legacies and repercussions of these dictatorships in light of the global reconfiguration.

Table of contents:

‘Dictatorships in Portuguese: Legacies and Repercussions‘ by Rosane Carneiro Ramos

‘The Long Twentieth Century in Portuguese: An Age Tending to One Extreme‘ by Cesar Zanin

‘A sombra dos ausentes: o impacto do desaparecimento de pessoas na cultura brasileira contemporânea’ / ‘The Shadow of the Absent: The Impact of Disappearances on Contemporary Brazilian Culture‘ by Christian Dutilleux

‘Traces of Repression in History and Literature: Indigenous Voices Represented by Márcia Kambeba and Sandra Godinho‘ by Cimara Valim de Melo

‘Brazil and the Events of 25 April 1974: Monitoring, Following and Repressing‘ by Enio Viterbo

‘The Revolutions in Hugo Gonçalves’s Revolução‘ by Gustavo Infante

‘The Non-Agreed Memory of Lucia Murat: Women During Dictatorship from a Filmic Perspective‘ by Rosane Carneiro Ramos

Read the full collection open access >