Fifty years on, the Revolution of 25 April 1974 and the subsequent PREC (Ongoing Revolutionary Process, 1974-76) continue to be discussed in the social sciences and humanities fields. Especially in recent decades, the debates surrounding the Revolution have sought to go beyond the pioneering studies devoted to political and military processes by making use of innovative approaches that help to understand the period in its full complexity. These have included highlighting social transformations and grassroots political participation; international contexts, in particular the processes of anti-colonial struggle and the Cold War; political and social dynamics in their regional diversity; the political economy of the Revolution; the repertoires of struggle and the written, visual and musical languages; the role of the Revolution and its memory in global history and democratic Portuguese society; the processes of patrimonialization, musealization and preservation of memories; comparative analyses with other revolutions and transitions to democratic systems. The fiftieth anniversary of the Revolution provides the opportunity to review the literature and discuss, from an interdisciplinary perspective, the future perspectives on the subject.
The International Congress 50 Years of 25 April 1974 welcomes proposals for papers from areas as diverse as sociology, history, economics, political science, international relations, anthropology, art history and artistic and literary studies. The congress seeks to promote innovative approaches in these thematic areas to deepen our knowledge of this foundational moment in the contemporary history of Portugal.
Thematic plan for acceptance of communications
Section I covers studies of Marcelism and the final crisis of the regime in both its national and international dimensions, including the social and political dynamics generated by the colonial war.
Section II is dedicated to the disbandment of the political, judicial and censorship apparatuses. It includes the political, criminal and administrative accountability of its agents (arrests, ‘sanitatization’, bans, trials), the revolutionary political process (in its different phases from 25 of April 1974 to the approval of the Constitution in 1976), the Constituent Assembly, the MFA/Parties Pacts and the Constitution of April 1976, political parties and the conquest of public freedoms, universal suffrage and the right to strike.
Section III includes research on workers’ struggles and organs of popular will, residents’ struggles and housing issues, the agrarian reform and new agrarian policies, nationalisations and economic development strategies. The section also encompasses research on other social dynamics such as feminist struggles and women’s organisations, the struggle for sexual and gender diversity, anti-racist movements, Portuguese racialised populations, education and the student movement.
Section IV deals with culture during the PREC, including the press, the audio-visual media (radio and television), music, cinema, theatre, literature, posters, painting and murals.
Section V addresses decolonisation. It brings together papers on the wars of liberation and the colonial issue. It will include such subjects as Portugal’s political and military power in the revolutionary process, national liberation movements and the decolonisation process. The section also welcomes papers on the effects of decolonisation on Portuguese society, particularly the arrival in Portugal of populations from the former colonies, the situation of the African military integrated in the Portuguese military forces, and the structural racism of Portuguese society.
Section VI deals with the international situation and the foreign policies adopted by the provisional governments, international links between political forces and military power, international support and external intervention in the revolutionary process.
Section VII introduces a comparative dimension into the study of the Portuguese Revolution. It encompasses such themes as the nature of Revolution and democratisation processes, and opens up to the study of the processes of convergence and divergence between different cases of transition to democracy.
This section is devoted to research on the processes of memorialisation of the past and its mutations over time, the public policies of memory as well as the politics of oblivion, commemorativism, and the debates on history and memory in their multiple dimensions.
Dates: 2, 3 and 4 May 2024
Location: Rectory of the University of Lisbon, Portugal
Modality: Proposals should be submitted by 10 September 2023.
Admissibility: Decisions regarding admissibility will be announced by 10 December 2023.
Panels organisation: The panels will be defined according to the number and variety of communications admitted.
Plenary sessions: Two keynote speakers will be invited for the opening and closing conferences.
Organization
Executive Committee
Maria Inácia Rezola, Comissão Comemorativa 50 Anos 25 de Abril • Fernando Rosas, IHC – NOVA FCSH • Miguel Cardina, CES – University of Coimbra • Rita Almeida de Carvalho, ICS – University of Lisbon • José Lopes Cordeiro, CICS – University of Minho • Manuel Loff, University of Porto, IHC – NOVA FCSH • Coronel Aniceto Afonso, Associação 25 de Abril
Scientific Committee
Álvaro Garrido, CEIS20 – University of Coimbra • António Costa Pinto, ICS – University of Lisbon • Augusto Nascimento, FLUL • Fernando Rosas, IHC – NOVA FCSH • José Lopes Cordeiro, CICS – University of Minho • José Neves, IHC – NOVA FCSH • Luís Trindade, IN2PAST • Luísa Tiago de Oliveira, CIES – ISCTE • Manuel Loff, University of Porto, IHC – NOVA FCSH • Maria da Conceição Meireles Pereira, CITCEM – University of Porto • Maria Inácia Rezola, Comissão Comemorativa 50 Anos 25 de Abril • Miguel Cardina, CES – University of Coimbra • Rui Bebiano, Documentation Centre 25 de Abril – University of Coimbra • Sérgio Campo Matos, CHUL – FLUL • Sílvia Roque, CES – University of Coimbra and University of Évora • Sílvia Roque, CES – University of Coimbra and University of Évora • Sónia Vespeira de Almeida, CRIA – NOVA FCSH • Rita Rato, Museum of Aljube • Luísa Teotónio Pereira, CIDAC • CULTRA, Cooperative Labor Cultures and Socialism
