The first edition of the Annual Conference of the Institute of Contemporary History, which promotes the relationship between Research Groups and disseminates the IHC’s research to a wider audience.

 

I Conferência Anual do Instituto de História Contemporânea

 

A Conferência do IHC é um evento de dois dias, composta por vários painéis partilhados por membros dos diferentes Grupos de Investigação do Instituto. O objetivo é duplo: desenvolver relações entre investigadores/as e investigações de diferentes grupos (tanto a nível temático como conceptual), por um lado, e abrir novos campos interdisciplinares no interior da historiografia, bem como entre esta e outras disciplinas, por outro. A Conferência Anual procura ainda dar a conhecer a investigação desenvolvida no Instituto a um público mais vasto. Nesse sentido, tem lugar no auditório da Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal.

 

>> Descarregar o programa (PDF)

>> Descarregar o programa com livro de resumos (PDF)

 

 

Fourth edition of the meeting De Famalicão para o Mundo [from Famalicão to the world], organised by several national institutions and, this year, gathering specialists on heritage education and railway memory.

 

V Encontro De Famalicão para o Mundo… de comboio há 150 anos!

 

Assinalando os 150 anos da Linha do Minho e da chegada do comboio a Vila Nova de Famalicão, o V Encontro “De Famalicão para o Mundo … de comboio há 150!“, organizado no âmbito do programa educativo e cultural municipal “De Famalicão para o Mundo”, pretende promover a educação patrimonial, a preservação da memória ferroviária e o envolvimento das comunidades. É uma oportunidade para reforçar a identidade colectiva e o sentido de pertença em torno de um legado que moldou o território e a mobilidade nacional.

Este encontro visa dotar os professores e o público em geral de conhecimentos necessários para a compreensão e reflexão critica sobre os diversos momentos, desde o século XIX até à actualidade, e analisar os registos de cuidada sensibilidade, numa relação com as vivências e memórias dos transportes e as suas consequências, que ficam plasmados nas obras de arte (em particular a pintura e a azulejaria das estações). Pretende ainda fomentar a construção de instrumentos pedagógicos e didácticos, relacionados com os conteúdos curriculares, para reforçar as aprendizagens e a identidade dos alunos, ao integrar a história local num contexto nacional e universal.

Não ficando apenas no passado, mas olhando o futuro, inclui uma conferência de encerramento que perspectivará o impacto da alta velocidade na região do Minho.

Realiza-se a 19 e 20 de Setembro de 2025, no Museu Nacional Ferroviário – Núcleo de Lousado, com inscrição obrigatória até dia 17 de setembro de 2025.

 

🔗 Inscrição para docentes (formação acreditada) neste link.

🔗 Inscrição geral neste link.

 

>> 📎 Programa (PDF) <<

 

 

Coordenação científica

 

• Arminda Ferreira (CMVNF)
• Luís Alberto Alves (CITCEM — FLUP)
• Cláudia Ninhos (IHC — NOVA FCSH / IN2PAST)
• Filipa Sousa Lopes (IHC — NOVA FCSH / IN2PAST)
• Cristina Clímaco (LER – Universidade Paris 8)
• António Gonçalves (Galeria Municipal Ala da Frente)
• Miguel Barros (APH)
• Aurora Marques (CFAEVNF)

 

 

 

 

A series of debates organised as part of the TRANSMAT project, the aim of which is to critically reflect on the colonial legacy in Portuguese museums.

 

Confrontar o Legado Colonial no Museu

 

Entre Junho e Outubro de 2025, o Museu Municipal Santos Rocha, na Figueira da Foz, será palco do ciclo de conversas Confrontar o Legado Colonial no Museu, uma iniciativa promovida pelo projecto TRANSMAT em parceria com o Museu Municipal Santos Rocha que reúne vozes diversas para reflectir criticamente sobre o legado colonial nos museus portugueses.

Ao longo de seis sessões, investigadores/as, artistas, curadores/as, escritores/as, docentes e outras personalidades convidam o público a participar num debate plural e aberto sobre memória, património e identidade. As sessões vão contar com a participação activa de personalidades locais, como Pedro Mota Curto (Diretor do Agrupamento de Escolas Figueira Mar) e Andrea Gaspar (Antropóloga e docente do Agrupamento de escolas zona urbana da Figueira da Foz), reforçando o envolvimento da comunidade da Figueira da Foz neste debate fundamental. Artistas como Francisco Vidal e Nuno Silas trazem o olhar das artes visuais para o centro da discussão, enriquecendo a troca de experiências e saberes. Contamos igualmente com a participação de Aristóteles Kandimba, escritor, investigador, produtor e fundador do Colectivo Tributo aos Ancestrais PT, cujo contributo tem sido fundamental no resgate e valorização das memórias e culturas afro-descendentes em Portugal.

Participe e faça parte desta reflexão colectiva sobre património, memória e transformação social na Figueira da Foz.

 

>> Descarregar o programa (PDF) <<

 

Quinta sessão: 

Alice Semedo (CITCEM — FLUP)
Andrea Gaspar (Agrupamento de Escolas da Figueira da Foz)
Aristóteles Kandimba (Escritor e Produtor Cultural)
Teresa Teves Reis (HERCULES — Universidade de Évora / IN2PAST)
Ricardo Roque (ICS — Universidade de Lisboa)

 

 

A series of debates organised as part of the TRANSMAT project, the aim of which is to critically reflect on the colonial legacy in Portuguese museums.

 

Confrontar o Legado Colonial no Museu

 

Entre Junho e Outubro de 2025, o Museu Municipal Santos Rocha, na Figueira da Foz, será palco do ciclo de conversas Confrontar o Legado Colonial no Museu, uma iniciativa promovida pelo projecto TRANSMAT em parceria com o Museu Municipal Santos Rocha que reúne vozes diversas para reflectir criticamente sobre o legado colonial nos museus portugueses.

Ao longo de seis sessões, investigadores/as, artistas, curadores/as, escritores/as, docentes e outras personalidades convidam o público a participar num debate plural e aberto sobre memória, património e identidade. As sessões vão contar com a participação activa de personalidades locais, como Pedro Mota Curto (Diretor do Agrupamento de Escolas Figueira Mar) e Andrea Gaspar (Antropóloga e docente do Agrupamento de escolas zona urbana da Figueira da Foz), reforçando o envolvimento da comunidade da Figueira da Foz neste debate fundamental. Artistas como Francisco Vidal e Nuno Silas trazem o olhar das artes visuais para o centro da discussão, enriquecendo a troca de experiências e saberes. Contamos igualmente com a participação de Aristóteles Kandimba, escritor, investigador, produtor e fundador do Colectivo Tributo aos Ancestrais PT, cujo contributo tem sido fundamental no resgate e valorização das memórias e culturas afro-descendentes em Portugal.

Participe e faça parte desta reflexão colectiva sobre património, memória e transformação social na Figueira da Foz.

 

>> Descarregar o programa (PDF) <<

 

Sexta sessão: 

António Candeias (HERCULES — Universidade de Évora / IN2PAST)
Nélia Dias (CRIA ISCTE / IN2PAST)
Pedro Aires Oliveira (IHC — NOVA FCSH / IN2PAST)
Sónia Vespeira de Almeida (CRIA — NOVA FCSH / IN2PAST)

 

 

The ninth edition of the congress, which aims to emphasise the importance of local history in contemporary historiography. Deadline: 7 September 2025

 

IX Congresso de História Local:

Conceitos, Práticas e Desafios na Contemporaneidade

 

 

O IX Congresso de História Local aspira acompanhar e estimular a renovação historiográfica em curso; assim, dá continuidade aos propósitos e dinâmicas iniciados em 2017, proporcionando um espaço de divulgação, de partilha e de problematização para todos/as quantos se dedicam a este ramo da historiografia, em diálogo permanente com a historiografia nacional e internacional. Tal como nas edições anteriores, o encontro pretende continuar a ser um contexto privilegiado para a reflexão sobre o conceito, as metodologias e as práticas da história local; por extensão, constitui-se como uma oportunidade para troca de experiências.

Do mesmo modo, os princípios subjacentes à organização do congresso fomentam a intervenção de estudantes de último ano de licenciatura e de primeiro de mestrado, com o intuito de obterem as primeiras experiências no meio académico.

 

 

---

 

Chamada para comunicações

 

Convidam-se os interessados/as a apresentarem propostas de comunicação no domínio da história local, subordinadas à evolução analítica de comunidades e enquadradas pelas especificidades metodológicas e epistemológicas que caracterizam este campo de estudos. As propostas de comunicação sobre a história local na contemporaneidade podem ser concebidas em torno dos seguintes eixos temáticos, sem exclusão de outros tópicos:

• Transformações sociais e culturais;
• Imprensa local;
• Dinâmicas laborais e conflituosidade social;
• Reflexões sobre a teoria e metodologias da história local;
• A importância da história local no ensino secundário e superior;
• Temas e trabalhos subordinados à história de uma região;
• História e comunidade(s);
• Elite(s) e personalidades;
• Municípios e Poder Local;
• Instituições e associações locais;
• Organização, resistência e violência política na história local;
• A história das mulheres em contexto local;
• Territórios e património biocultural.

 

O encontro de 2025 será acolhido pela Câmara Municipal de Alpiarça. Seguindo o modelo dos eventos anteriores, esta edição contará com um painel exclusivamente dedicado à história deste município e do Ribatejo. Nesse sentido, convidam-se os historiadores/as, professores/as, investigadores/as e demais/as estudiosos da região a submeterem comunicações dedicadas à história de Alpiarça.

 

Envio de propostas

As propostas não deverão exceder os 3500 caracteres e contemplar o título do trabalho e uma biografia resumida do autor/a (máximo 750 caracteres).

As comunicações aceites resultarão em apresentações de 15 minutos.

Línguas de trabalho: Português e Inglês (não haverá interpretação simultânea).

O painel júnior é exclusivo para alunos/as de último ano de licenciatura e primeiro ano de mestrado; neste caso, a apresentação das propostas de comunicação deverá observar o mesmo procedimento, mas serão avaliadas separadamente.

Todas as propostas deverão ser submetidas através do formulário disponível 🔗neste link.

 

Inscrições

A inscrição no congresso é individual e gratuita e deverá ser feita através do formulário disponível 🔗neste link até ao dia 6 de Novembro de 2025.

 

Calendarização

Submissão de propostas: 7 Setembro 2025
Notificação de aceitação de propostas: 15 Outubro 2025
Divulgação do programa: 20 Outubro 2025
Prazo para inscrições: 6 Novembro 2025
Congresso: 7 – 8 Novembro 2025

 

Contacto: congressohistorialocal@gmail.com

 

 

Comissão Organizadora

 

Catarina Pimentel Neto (CEF — NOVA FCSH)
Catarina Veiga dos Santos (CEF — NOVA FCSH)
Diogo Ferreira (CEF — NOVA FCSH)
Eunice Relvas (CEF — NOVA FCSH / GEO-CML)
Guilherme Sequeira (CEF — NOVA FCSH)
Inês José ( IHC — NOVA FCSH / IN2PAST / CEF — NOVA FCSH)
João Francisco Pereira (CEF — NOVA FCSH / CEHR-UCP)
João Pedro Santos (IHC – NOVA FCSH / IN2PAST)
Liliana Caldeira (CEF — NOVA FCSH / Câmara Municipal de Lagoa)
Maria Fernanda Rollo (CEF — NOVA FCSH)
Maria Miguel Fresco (CEF — NOVA FCSH)
Mariana Reis de Castro (IHC – NOVA FCSH / IN2PAST / CEF — NOVA FCSH)
Pedro Serra (CEF — NOVA FCSH)

 

Comissão Científica

 

Ana Cardoso Matos (CIDEHUS — Universidade de Évora)
Ana Paula Pires (CEF — NOVA FCSH / Universidade Açores)
António José Queiroz (CEFi  —UCP / CEPESE)
Diogo Ferreira (CEF — NOVA FCSH)
Eunice Relvas (CEF — NOVA FCSH / GEO-CML)
João Miguel Henriques (CEF — NOVA FCSH / CMC)
Jorge Fernandes Alves (FLUP)
Luís Alberto Alves (CITCEM — FLUP)
Manuela Tavares Ribeiro (FLUC)
Maria Conceição Meireles (FLUP)
Maria Fátima Nunes (IHC — Universidade de Évora / IN2PAST)
Maria Fernanda Rollo (CEF — NOVA FCSH)
Margarida Sobral Neto (FLUC)
Nuno Pousinho (IHC — NOVA FCSH / IN2PAST)
Paulo Jorge Fernandes (IHC – NOVA FCSH / IN2PAST)
Paulo Miguel Rodrigues (CEF — NOVA FCSH / Universidade da Madeira)
Pedro Serra (CEF — NOVA FCSH)
Sérgio Rezendes (CEF — NOVA FCSH)
Teresa Nunes (CEF — NOVA FCSH / FLUL)

 

 

 

Workshop that aims to place the OAU initiatives in their context and help consolidate analyses of its solidarity as a critical subject of the end of colonialism and white minority regimes.

 

The Organization of African Unity and the Struggle against Colonialism and Racism in Africa

 

The study of international organizations is an emerging field that covers a topic of growing importance in academia. In recent decades, the contributions of such organizations as actors in international relations have received increasing attention (Iriye 2004). Theoretical and empirical analyses seek to provide insights into the work of intergovernmental organizations, nongovernmental organizations, or transnational networks. By expanding their geographical scope beyond national borders, scholars interested in international organizations have reflected the myriad ways in which they can be studied (Hurd 2012).

The Organization of African Unity (OAU), as a regional organization, has been the subject of ongoing research (Gassama 2015). However, a review of existing publications reveals that relatively few studies have addressed the OAU’s solidarity against colonialism and racism in Africa. Several reasons may explain this situation. Comparatively, the OAU has received less attention than other international organizations, notably the United Nations. Research has mainly focused on its establishment and achievements in conflict resolution, cooperation and development (Muchie et al. 2014; Naldi 1999). Difficulties in accessing primary sources may also have contributed to the diversion of interest from the OAU’s contribution to decolonization and the end of white minority regimes.

Writing on the subject has mostly been done at the time of the events and lacks historical perspective (Binaisa 1977; El-Khawas 1978). The accounts are limited in scope, discussing primarily the OAU’s support for the liberation movements of Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa (Klotz 1995; Thomas 1996). With regard to the Portuguese colonies, with the exception of the work of Walraven (1999), it is difficult to find an overarching narrative, and the available information is mostly found in publications that do not focus on the topic as a primary concern (Sousa 2011; Tíscar Santiago 2013).

Thus, a more critical approach is needed to question what the OAU did to support the struggle against colonialism and racism in Africa, as well as the complexities and nuances involved. With this situation in mind, we intend to explore the OAU’s solidarity with the struggle against colonialism and racism in Africa in a workshop in-person and online that will take place in Lisbon, at the Institute of Contemporary History of the NOVA University of Lisbon, on 13 and 14 November 2025.

The workshop aims to place the OAU initiatives in their context and help consolidate analyses of its solidarity as a critical subject of the end of colonialism and white minority regimes. In addition, the workshop will contribute to rethinking the gaps in historiography by examining the OAU solidarity as a transnational phenomenon that transcended national boundaries.

We welcome proposals for 20-minute presentations on these and other topics:

• The extent to which the OAU played a role in ending colonialism and racism on the African continent;
• How the Liberation Committee was instrumental in the strategy of the OAU to undermine colonial rule and racist minority rule;
• How the attitudes of a number of states, due to inter-African competition, shaped the OAU’s policies on colonialism and racism;
• How the diplomacy of the OAU sought to shape the debate at the UN on colonialism and racism;
• How the OAU engaged with non-African countries as part of its support to the struggle for independence and against apartheid;
• How the organization worked as an intermediary in the support given by third parties to anti-colonial and anti-racist organizations;
• The importance of the relationship with the OAU for anti-colonial and anti-racist organizations to advance their agenda;
• The tensions and disagreements between the OAU and the anti-colonial and anti-racist organizations;
• The extent to which the anti-colonial and anti-racist organizations sought to use the OAU not only against the colonial and racist powers, but also to sideline competing groups.

 

Abstracts for presentations (200 words) and a biographical note (250 words) should be sent to: OAUconference@gmail.com

Deadline for submissions: 8 August 2025
Notification of acceptance: 15 August 2025

The organizers foresee the publication of the communications. The first draft of the papers is due on 30 January 2026.

 

>> Download the call for papers (PDF) >>

 

 

Organization:

Aurora Almada e Santos (IHC — NOVA FCSH / IN2PAST)

 

References:

BINAISA, Godfrey – «Organization of African Unity and Decolonization: Present and Future Trends» in The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science Vol. 432 (1977).
EI-KHAWAS, Mohamed A. – «The Quiet Role of OAU in Africa’s Liberation» in New Directions Vol. 5, Issue 2 (1978).
GASSAMA, Muhammad – From the OAU to the AU: The Odyssey of a Continental Organization. Paris: l’Harmattan, 2015.
HURD, Ian – Choices and Methods in the Study of International Organizations. Available at <URL:http://www.unstudies.org/sites/unstudies.org/files/hurd_jios.pdf>, on 18/03/2012.
IRIYE, Akira – Global Community: The Role of International Organizations in the Making of the Contemporary World. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004.
KLOTZ, Audie – Norms in International Relations: The Struggle Against Apartheid. Ithaca; London: Cornell University Press, 1995.
MUCHIE, Mammo et al. (ed.) – Unite or Perish: Africa Fifty Years after the Founding of the OAU. Pretoria: Africa Institute of South Africa, 2014.
NALDI, Gino Joseph – The Organization of African Unity: An Analysis of its Role. London: Mansell, 1999.
SOUSA, Julião Soares – Amílcar Cabral (1924-1973). Vida e Morte de um Revolucionário Africano. Lisboa: Nova Vega, Lda, 2011.
THOMAS, Scott M. – The Diplomacy of Liberation: The Foreign Relations of the ANC Since 1960. London: Tauris Academic Studies, 1996.
TÍSCAR SANTIAGO, María José – Diplomacia Peninsular e Operações Secretas na Guerra Colonial. Lisboa: Edições Colibri, 2013.
WALRAVEN, Klaas van – Dreams of Power: The Role of the Organization of African Unity in the Politics of Africa. 1963-1993. Leiden: African Studies Centre, 1999.

 

 

Workshop that intends to investigate the relation between “global infrastructures” and “practices of rent-extraction”, both historically and in the global present. Deadline: 15 September 2025

 

Infrastructures of Rent Extraction

 

According to a number of prominent analyses, the contemporary world-market is characterised by “a full-fledged comeback and proliferation of forms of rent” (Vercellone 2010; see also: Harvey 2015, Mezzadra & Neilson 2017, Purcell 2018, Christophers 2020, Standing 2020). This political and economic shift demands granular reflections, and it has stimulated widespread theoretical and political debates.

Building upon classical Marxist critiques of imperialism – which emphasized the role of the imperialist “rentier state” as “a state of parasitic, decaying capitalism” (Lenin 1917) – a number of critics have suggested that the growing centrality of rent-extraction in global cycles of capital accumulation indicates a significant shift in the history of the capitalist mode of production from ‘neoliberalism’ to ‘rentier capitalism’ (Christophers 2020, Sadowski 2020, Birch & Ward 2023; Borg & Policante 2024). The neoliberal market presents itself as an arena of free trade, competition, entrepreneurship, and frictionless mobility. Yet, as these authors emphasize, control over key assets – such as land, intellectual property, natural resources, logistical and digital infrastructure – is increasingly dominated by a restricted number of companies and individuals: rentiers, passively piling up the returns accruing from their ownership of essential conditions of (re)production: land, water, housing, utilities, infrastructures and platforms.

Others (more problematically, from our perspective) have gone as far as suggesting that the growth of rent relations can be interpreted as a shift from capitalism to techno-feudalism (Varoufakis 2023, Durand 2024, Mazzuccato 2019, Dean 2025). This narrative stresses that contemporary digital economies are no longer driven primarily by labor exploitation, but by monopolistic control over digital infrastructures and rent extraction. According to this approach, today’s tech giants resemble lords presiding over private infrastructural fiefdoms, continuously extracting value from us captured users. This dynamic is intricately linked to ‘platformisation’, whereby Big Tech firms charge ‘rent’ for providing access to monopolised digital platforms (Sadowski, 2020; Mezzadra et al. 2024).

By controlling different layers of the digital stack, Big Tech companies appear to be increasingly able to extract value from global production chains. GAFAM – and more precisely the Big Three of the Cloud (AWS, Google Cloud Provider and Microsoft Azure) – currently control two thirds of global Cloud capacity. Citizens, private firms, states, and international organizations increasingly rely on their services, renting stock capacity, algorithmic elaboration, and AI functions. Such a position of power is reinforced by their growing control over many of the infrastructures that support the digital – datacenters, submarine fiber cables, power plants etc. How do we make sense of the power of Big Tech, and the growing importance of what we may call imperative “infrastructure rents”, i.e. rent relations that have become increasingly compulsory, inescapable and designed within the very infrastructural fabric of the world market?

Moving away from “presentism” may help us to properly contextualize and historicize this contemporary conjuncture. Current analyses of Big Tech ‘rentierism’, for instance, has pushed many to turn back to classic studies on “rentier states” and “imperialist rent”. Samir Amin, for instance, focusing on the impact of colonial control over extractive and logistical infrastructures, stressed that “to the extent that monopolies operate in the peripheries of the globalized system, monopoly rent becomes an imperialist rent” (Amin 2019). Similarly, Hazem Beblawi’s classic “The Rentier State in the Arab World” (1987: 383) stressed the emergence of “extraverted states”, whose main lever of power is the control over infrastructures enabling the extraction of rents. In particular, according to Beblawi, “transit countries” such as Egypt have long relied on their control over key global infrastructures – such as ports, railways, oil pipelines, and the Suez Canal – to extract and distribute “external location rent”.

This analysis may provide a point of entry to reflect upon the growing competition to control key “global infrastructures” such as pipelines and ports, power cables and fiber optic networks, transcontinental railways and highways. For instance, Loftus, March and Purcell (2019, 2020) have shown how processes of financialization have enabled “apparently fixed and stable forms such as pipes, water treatment plants, and sewers to be transformed into liquid assets”, opening up new opportunities for rent-extraction. More generally, Ranabir Samaddar (2018: 110) suggests that “the logistical expansion of the city […] resurrects the rent factor from oblivion in a capitalist economy”; and urgently asks: “What does the revival of the rent question mean for postcolonial accumulation?” These analyses emphasize that global infrastructures play a fundamental role in planetary processes of value-capture and rent-extraction.

Expanding on these debates, the conference intends to investigate the relation between “global infrastructures” and “practices of rent-extraction”, both historically and in the global present. We welcome contributions that investigate the relation between historical processes of infrastructuralisation, financialisation, and rentierisation of the economy. We are particularly interested in furthering a collective reflection on the ways in which rent relations extend well beyond land markets and shape the global circulation and capture of value across logistical, extractive and digital infrastructures.

Some possible questions that demand further reflection and analysis may be:

• What is the role played by global infrastructures in enabling practices of rent extraction by transnational corporations as well as national states?
• How is rent extracted in different geographical and historical contexts?
• What forms of labour(s) and knowledge(s) are mobilised in order to extract rents?
• How has the control over key infrastructures enabled the capture of value in colonial and post-colonial context?
• To what extent concepts such as ‘rentier capitalism’ and ‘techno-feudalism’ may further – or hinder – critical understandings of contemporary capitalism?
• How can we understand the relationship between ‘rentier states’, ‘rentier capitalism’ and ‘rentier imperialism’, both historically and in the present moment?
• Who has monopolistic control over key global infrastructures, and what sort of power results from such control?
• What forms of resistance to ‘rent extraction’ have been growing in recent years, from ‘rent strikes’ to cyberpiracy?

 

We welcome papers dealing with all these aspects from an interdisciplinary perspective. Interested scholars are invited to send an abstract and a short bio to Amedeo Policante [policante@fcsh.unl.pt] and Mattia Frapporti [mattia.frapporti2@unibo.it] by 15 September 2025. The final workshop will take place on 28 November 2025, at the University of Bologna.

 

>> Download the call for papers (PDF)

 

 

References:

– Amin, S. (2012). The surplus in monopoly capitalism and the imperialist rent. Monthly Review, 64(3), 78.
– Beblawi, H. (1987). The Rentier State in the Arab World. Arab Studies Quarterly, 9(4), 383–398.
– Birch, K., & Ward, C. (2023). Introduction: Critical approaches to rentiership. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 55(6), 1429-1437.
– Borg, E., & Policante, A. (2024). The Gene Editing Business: Rent Extraction in the Biotech Industry. Review of Political Economy, 1-36.
– Dean, J. (2025). Capital’s Grave: Neofeudalism and the New Class Struggle. Verso Books.
– Durand, C. (2024). How Silicon Valley Unleashed Techno-feudalism: The Making of the Digital Economy. Verso Books.
– Harvey, D. (2012). Ponzi Scheme Capitalism: An Interview with David Harvey by Steffen Böhm. Review31. [http://review31.co.uk/interview/view/16/]
– Lenin, V. (1917) Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, In: Essential Works of Lenin, New York, 1966, pp. 245-246.
– Christophers, B. (2020). Rentier capitalism: Who owns the economy, and who pays for it?. Verso Books.
– Mazzucato M (2019) Preventing digital feudalism. Project Syndicate. Available at: https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/platform-economy-digital-feudalism-by-mariana-mazzucato-2019-10 (accessed 23 October 2024).
– Mezzadra, S., & Neilson, B. (2017). On the multiple frontiers of extraction: Excavating contemporary capitalism. Cultural studies, 31(2-3), 185-204.
– Mezzadra, S., Cuppini, N., Frapporti, M., Pirone, M., (2024). Capitalism in the Platform Age. Emerging Assemblages of Labour and Welfare in Urban Spaces. Berlin, Springer.
– Purcell, T. F., Loftus, A., & March, H. (2020). Value–rent–finance. Progress in human geography, 44(3), 437-456.
– Sadowski, J. (2020). The internet of landlords: Digital platforms and new mechanisms of rentier capitalism. Antipode, 52(2), 562-580.
– Samaddar, R. (2018). The logistical city. In India’s contemporary urban conundrum. Routledge, pp.104-115.
– Standing, G. (2021). The corruption of capitalism: Why rentiers thrive and work does not pay. Biteback Publishing.
– Varoufakis, Y. (2023) Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism, Melville House.
– Vercellone, C. (2010) The Crisis of the Law of Value and the Becoming-Rent of Profit. In Fumagalli, A. & Mezzadra, S. (eds.) Crisis in the global economy: Financial Markets, Social Struggles, and New Political Scenarios, Semiotext(e), pp. 85-118.

 

Workshop that aims to place the OAU initiatives in their context and help consolidate analyses of its solidarity as a critical subject of the end of colonialism and white minority regimes.

 

The Organization of African Unity and the Struggle against Colonialism and Racism in Africa

 

The study of international organizations is an emerging field that covers a topic of growing importance in academia. In recent decades, the contributions of such organizations as actors in international relations have received increasing attention (Iriye 2004). Theoretical and empirical analyses seek to provide insights into the work of intergovernmental organizations, nongovernmental organizations, or transnational networks. By expanding their geographical scope beyond national borders, scholars interested in international organizations have reflected the myriad ways in which they can be studied (Hurd 2012).

The Organization of African Unity (OAU), as a regional organization, has been the subject of ongoing research (Gassama 2015). However, a review of existing publications reveals that relatively few studies have addressed the OAU’s solidarity against colonialism and racism in Africa. Several reasons may explain this situation. Comparatively, the OAU has received less attention than other international organizations, notably the United Nations. Research has mainly focused on its establishment and achievements in conflict resolution, cooperation and development (Muchie et al. 2014; Naldi 1999). Difficulties in accessing primary sources may also have contributed to the diversion of interest from the OAU’s contribution to decolonization and the end of white minority regimes.

Writing on the subject has mostly been done at the time of the events and lacks historical perspective (Binaisa 1977; El-Khawas 1978). The accounts are limited in scope, discussing primarily the OAU’s support for the liberation movements of Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa (Klotz 1995; Thomas 1996). With regard to the Portuguese colonies, with the exception of the work of Walraven (1999), it is difficult to find an overarching narrative, and the available information is mostly found in publications that do not focus on the topic as a primary concern (Sousa 2011; Tíscar Santiago 2013).

Thus, a more critical approach is needed to question what the OAU did to support the struggle against colonialism and racism in Africa, as well as the complexities and nuances involved. With this situation in mind, we intend to explore the OAU’s solidarity with the struggle against colonialism and racism in Africa in a workshop in-person and online that will take place in Lisbon, at the Institute of Contemporary History of the NOVA University of Lisbon, on 13 and 14 November 2025.

The workshop aims to place the OAU initiatives in their context and help consolidate analyses of its solidarity as a critical subject of the end of colonialism and white minority regimes. In addition, the workshop will contribute to rethinking the gaps in historiography by examining the OAU solidarity as a transnational phenomenon that transcended national boundaries.

We welcome proposals for 20-minute presentations on these and other topics:

• The extent to which the OAU played a role in ending colonialism and racism on the African continent;
• How the Liberation Committee was instrumental in the strategy of the OAU to undermine colonial rule and racist minority rule;
• How the attitudes of a number of states, due to inter-African competition, shaped the OAU’s policies on colonialism and racism;
• How the diplomacy of the OAU sought to shape the debate at the UN on colonialism and racism;
• How the OAU engaged with non-African countries as part of its support to the struggle for independence and against apartheid;
• How the organization worked as an intermediary in the support given by third parties to anti-colonial and anti-racist organizations;
• The importance of the relationship with the OAU for anti-colonial and anti-racist organizations to advance their agenda;
• The tensions and disagreements between the OAU and the anti-colonial and anti-racist organizations;
• The extent to which the anti-colonial and anti-racist organizations sought to use the OAU not only against the colonial and racist powers, but also to sideline competing groups.

 

Abstracts for presentations (200 words) and a biographical note (250 words) should be sent to: OAUconference@gmail.com

Deadline for submissions: 8 August 2025
Notification of acceptance: 15 August 2025

The organizers foresee the publication of the communications. The first draft of the papers is due on 30 January 2026.

 

>> Download the call for papers (PDF) >>

 

 

Organization:

Aurora Almada e Santos (IHC — NOVA FCSH / IN2PAST)

 

References:

BINAISA, Godfrey – «Organization of African Unity and Decolonization: Present and Future Trends» in The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science Vol. 432 (1977).
EI-KHAWAS, Mohamed A. – «The Quiet Role of OAU in Africa’s Liberation» in New Directions Vol. 5, Issue 2 (1978).
GASSAMA, Muhammad – From the OAU to the AU: The Odyssey of a Continental Organization. Paris: l’Harmattan, 2015.
HURD, Ian – Choices and Methods in the Study of International Organizations. Available at <URL:http://www.unstudies.org/sites/unstudies.org/files/hurd_jios.pdf>, on 18/03/2012.
IRIYE, Akira – Global Community: The Role of International Organizations in the Making of the Contemporary World. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004.
KLOTZ, Audie – Norms in International Relations: The Struggle Against Apartheid. Ithaca; London: Cornell University Press, 1995.
MUCHIE, Mammo et al. (ed.) – Unite or Perish: Africa Fifty Years after the Founding of the OAU. Pretoria: Africa Institute of South Africa, 2014.
NALDI, Gino Joseph – The Organization of African Unity: An Analysis of its Role. London: Mansell, 1999.
SOUSA, Julião Soares – Amílcar Cabral (1924-1973). Vida e Morte de um Revolucionário Africano. Lisboa: Nova Vega, Lda, 2011.
THOMAS, Scott M. – The Diplomacy of Liberation: The Foreign Relations of the ANC Since 1960. London: Tauris Academic Studies, 1996.
TÍSCAR SANTIAGO, María José – Diplomacia Peninsular e Operações Secretas na Guerra Colonial. Lisboa: Edições Colibri, 2013.
WALRAVEN, Klaas van – Dreams of Power: The Role of the Organization of African Unity in the Politics of Africa. 1963-1993. Leiden: African Studies Centre, 1999.