International colloquium that aims to reflect about the different projects and missionary activities in Angola and Mozambique during the 20th century. Call for papers open until 7 October.

 

Missions and Colonial Power in Angola and Mozambique in the 20th Century

 

In the 20th century, during the colonial period in Angola and Mozambique, the projects and missionary activities received special attention from the Portuguese government and from numerous churches, shaping the societies.

The succession of different political regimes in Portugal – the Constitutional Monarchy, officially Catholic, the secular República (Republic), the Estado Novo (New State), formally separated from the Catholic Church but with a close collaboration with Catholicism – did not entail disruptions in the relations between the Portuguese state and missionary practices. The experiences of the secular missions during the I República had a limited scope. The fact that the Estado Novo assigned a role to Catholicism in the “portugalização” (assimilation to the Portuguese culture) of the African populations, through the Missionary Agreement of 1940 supplemented by the Missionary Statute of 1941, reinforced the capacity of the Catholic Church intervention. However, it did not introduce innovations in the conceptualization of Catholic missions as a mean to “portugalizar” (portugalization) and “civilizar” (civilize) territories under its sovereignty in Africa.

The colonial policy became a “mystic” supported and enhanced by a close association between the Portuguese nationalism and the imperial project, legitimizing the slogan “Portugal não é um país pequeno” (Portugal is not a small country). The nationalism promoted by the Estado Novo was coupled with the Catholic missionary project. From 1961 onward, the Estado Novo implemented reforms and tested new policies expecting to exclude the possibility of decolonization, in a period named by scholars as “late colonialism”. In the new context, the colonial power displayed an inclination to mitigate its “religious policy”, adding non-Catholic religious denominations to the imperial mystic, although such strategic inflexion was not always obvious for the public opinion.
From the perspective of the missionaries in Angola and Mozambique, the colonial period in the 20th century was marked by the expansion of Christianity; the religious competition; changes and ecclesial discussions regarding missions, their goals and methodologies; changes in the understanding of religious liberty and in the relationship of different religious denominations with each other.

The logic of the Portuguese state to conceive all territories under its sovereignty as part of a whole was confronted by the missionaries in the ground with the possibility or the need to think their action as included in the African regional logics or in the international dynamics of their religious denominations, orders and congregations.

The international conference has as the main goal to think about:

-the different projects and missionary activities in Angola and Mozambique during the 20th century;
-how the Portuguese state, throughout the different political regimes, had in consideration the religious factor in its colonial strategy;
-the articulation and tensions between the colonial power and the Christian missions in the educational and social fields;
-the interactions between missions, Portuguese nationalism and the Angolan and Mozambican anti-colonial nationalisms;
-the competition and convergence between different religious denominations;
-the issues raised by the relation between the Catholic hierarchy and the different dynamics of Catholic missions.

 

Programme

 

6 December 2018
Room 0.06

9:00-9:30h – Reception

9:30-10:00h – Opening session

10:00-10:45h – Inaugural conference
Moderator: João Miguel Almeida (Universidade Nova de Lisboa)

Eric Morier-Genoud (Queen’s University Belfast): Missionação e Poder Colonial em Angola e Moçambique. Panorâmica da Historiografia e dos seus Desafios

10:45-11:00h – Break

11:00-12:30h – Panel 1
Moderator: Cláudia Ninhos (Universidade Nova de Lisboa)

Hugo Dores (Universidade de Coimbra): The Road for an Agreement on Missions: The Quarrel Between Portugal and the Holy See Regarding the Missionary Policy for the Portuguese Empire in Africa
José Ramon Rodríguez Lago (Universidade de Vigo): Entre Desastre e Independência. As Redes Eclesiásticas na África Espanhola (1898-1975)
Ana Rita Amaral (University of the Free State): Exhibiting Faith and Empire: Angola and the Spiritan Fathers at the Universal Missionary Exhibition (Vatican, 1925) and the National Missionary Exhibition (Barcelos, 1931)

12:30-14:00h – Lunch

14:00-15:00h – Panel 2
Moderator: Paulo Fontes (Universidade Católica Portuguesa)

Carlos Alberto Alves (Universidade de Lisboa): Efeitos do Concílio Vaticano II no Planalto Central de Angola, 1966-1968
Anabela Silveira (Universidade Nova de Lisboa): O Clero Católico Perante o Modelo Colonial Português: O Papel do Cónego Manuel das Neves

15:00-16:20h – Panel 3
Moderator: Hugo Dores (Universidade de Coimbra)

Paulo Gonçalves (Santuário de Cristo Rei): A Acção Missionária de D. Sebastião Soares de Resende em Moçambique. Subsídios para o Aprofundamento do seu Estudo
João Miguel Almeida (Universidade Nova de Lisboa): Civilizar ou Libertar? O Caso de D. Manuel Vieira Pinto
Rui Pereira (Universidade Nova de Lisboa): “Amancebados, Polígamos e Feiticeiros”. As Interferências das Missões Católicas na Administração Colonial em Moçambique

16:20-16:30h – Break

16:30-17:15h – Conference
Moderator: Eric Morier-Genoud (Queen’s University Belfast)

António Matos Ferreira (Universidade Católica Portuguesa): Ambiguidades do Agir Missionários nas Estratégias da Construção dos Poderes Coloniais

19:00h – Dinner

 

7 de Dezembro de 2018
Auditório 001 (Torre A)

9:30-10:45h – Panel 4
Moderator: Nuno Estêvão Ferreira (Universidade Católica Portuguesa)

Maria Manuel Oliveira (Universidade Católica Portuguesa): Missionação Feminina e Poder Colonial: Algumas Reflexões
Marlino Mubai (Universidade Eduardo Mondlane): Religious Missionaries and Human Wellbeing in Colonial Mozambique
Natalia Zawiejska (Jagiellonian University): Assemblies of God in Angola: The Memories of the Angolan Missionaries in Luanda

10:45-11:00h – Break

11:00-12:00h – Panel 5
Moderator: Cláudia Ninhos (Universidade Nova de Lisboa)

Gonçalo Brito (Universidade Católica Portuguesa): “O Que é Bom Para Uma Colónia Pode Ser Mau Para Outra”. O Projecto Escotista de Álvaro de Fontoura para Angola e Moçambique (1935)
José Silveira Lopes (Investigador Independente): Atraiçoado o “Colonialismo Missionário” em Angola em 1960-1961

12:00-12:45h – Closing conference
Moderator: João Miguel Almeida (Universidade Nova de Lisboa)

Maria da Conceição Neto (Universidade Agostinho Neto): A Missão de Quem?… O Papel dos Catequistas e Outros(as) Agentes Locais na Cristianização de Angola (c. 1880-1960)

12:45:13:00h – Conclusions

 

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Call for papers

 

We anticipate that the international conference will contribute to promoting the debate about the methodology of analysis of missions in Angola and Mozambique during the colonial period, stimulating the revision of the literature and the presentation of papers based in missionary archives.

We welcome proposals for 20-minute presentations. Abstracts (300 words) and biographical notes (250 words) should be sent to missionepodercolonial@gmail.com

📎 CALL FOR PAPERS

 

Venue

NOVA School of Social Sciences and Humanities
Room 0.06 (ID Building) and Auditorium 001 (Tower A)

 

Important dates

Abstracts submission deadline: 7 October 2018
Notification of acceptance: 15 October 2018
Colloquium: 6 and 7 December 2018

 

Organising Committee

Aurora Almada e Santos (IHC – NOVA FCSH)
Cláudia Ninhos (CHAM e IHC – NOVA FCSH)
João Miguel Almeida (IHC – NOVA FCSH)
Maria Inácia Rezola (IHC – NOVA FCSH)
Paulo Fontes (CEHR-UCP)
Pedro Aires Oliveira (IHC – NOVA FCSH)

 

Scientific Committee

António Matos Ferreira (CEHR-UCP; FL-UL)
Bruno Cardoso Reis (CEI-IUL; ISCTE-IUL)
Clara Carvalho (CEI-IUL; ISCTE-IUL)
Edalina Sanches (ICS-UL)
Eugénia Rodrigues (CH-UL)
Hugo Dores (CES-UC; CEHR-UCP)