The construction of a web narrative about the Portuguese colonial war: a critical perspective on Wikipedia

Verónica  Ferreira

doi:10.3989/chdj.2022.010

Authors

Verónica Ferreira Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9480-7267

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3989/chdj.2022.010

Keywords:

Digital memory, Wikipedia, Discourses about the past, Portuguese colonial wars, National liberation wars

Abstract

As part of recent research into the Portuguese colonial war in the sphere of memory studies, this article seeks to fill a gap in the underexplored field of digital memories. It aims, firstly, to explore the processes through which discourses about the Portuguese colonial war are produced in the Portuguese version of Wikipedia, looking at its dynamics and mechanisms of construction, including formal and informal rules; and secondly, to analyse that discourse using theoretical and methodological considerations from critical discourse analysis (CDA), complemented with concepts of absence and silence, which enable a reflection on the relationship between power, knowledge and memory. The article also explores the limits of Wikipedia as regards the formation of collaborative narratives about the past, arguing that they are marked by the reproduction of Eurocentric narratives which circulate in political, educational and media discourses, and also by the memories of more conservative sectors of Portuguese society, such as war veterans and former settlers returning from the colonies (the so-called retornados). These narratives mask the colonial violence and resistance to it that preceded the colonial war and depoliticize the struggle of the national liberation movements.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Alcántara-Plá, M. and Ruiz-Sánchez, A. (2018) "Not for Twitter: Migration as a Silenced Topic in the 2015 Spanish General Election." In M. Schröter: Exploring silence and absence in discourse: empirical approaches. Charlotte: Melani and Taylor. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 25-64. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64580-3_2

Almeida, M. V. de (2004) Na earth-colored sea. 'Race', Culture and the Politics of Identity in the Post-Colonial Portuguese-Speaking World. New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books.

Antunes, M. J. L. (2015) Regressos Quase Perfeitos: Memória da Guerra em Angola. Lisboa: Tinta-da-china.

Antunes, M. J. L. (2017) "War Narratives Then and Now: Ex-Combatants' Memories of Angola." Portuguese Studies Review, 25 (1), pp. 347-364.

Araújo, M. and Maeso, S. R. (2012) "History textbooks, racism and the critique of Eurocentrism: beyond rectification or compensation." Ethnic and Racial Studies, 35 (7), pp. 1266-1286. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2011.600767

Araújo, M. and Maeso, S. R. (2015) "Eurocentrism, Political Struggles and Will-to-Ignorance." In: M. Araújo and S. Maeso, eds., Rodriguez Eurocentrism, Racism and Knowledge: Debates on History and Power in Europe and the Americas. London and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137292896_1

Araújo, M. and Maeso, S. R. (2016) The Contours of Eurocentrism. Race, History, and Political Texts. Lanham and London: Lexington Books

Blommaert, J. (2005) Discourse: a critical introduction. New York: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511610295

Bodnar, J. (1994) Remaking America: public memory, commemoration, and patriotism in the twentieth century. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.

Bolter, J. D. and Grusin, R. (2000) Remediation: understanding new media. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

Bond, L., Craps, S. and Vermeulen, P., eds. (2017) Memory unbound: tracing the dynamics of memory studies. New York: Berghahn Books. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvswx786

Bouchard, G. (2013) "National myths: An overview." In: G. Bouchard, ed., National myths: constructed pasts, contested presents. New York: Routledge, pp. 276-297. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203097113-24

Bourke, J. (2006) "War and Violence." Thesis Eleven, 86 (1), pp. 23-38. https://doi.org/10.1177/0725513606066238

Butler, J. (2009) Frames of War: when is life grievable? London and New York: Verso.

Caiado, A. (2020) A presença de um imaginário imperial na monumentalização da memória da Guerra Colonial portuguesa." Cabo dos Trabalhos, 20. Available at: https://eg.uc.pt/bitstream/10316/89109/1/A%20presenca%20de%20um%20imaginario%20imperial%20na%20monumentalizacao.pdf [accessed 15 May 2019].

Campos, Â. (2008) "«We are still ashamed of our own History.» Interviewing ex-combatants of the Portuguese colonial war (1961-1974)." Lusotopie XV(2), pp. 107-126. Available at: http://journals.openedition.org/lusotopie/612 https://doi.org/10.1163/17683084-01502006

Campos, Â. (2017) An Oral History of the Portuguese Colonial War. London: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46194-6

Cardão, M. (2014). Fado tropical: o luso-tropicalismo na cultura de massas (1960-1974). Lisboa: Edições Unipop.

Cardina, M. (2016a) "Memórias amnésicas? Nação, discurso político e representações do passado colonial." Configurações - Revista de Sociologia, 17, pp. 31-42. https://doi.org/10.4000/configuracoes.2909

Cardina, M. (2016b) "Pasados problemáticos: guerra y memoria en el Portugal contemporáneo." Historia del Presente, 28, pp. 63-74.

Cardina, M. and Martins, B. S. (2018). "Introdução." In: M. Cardina and B. S. Martins, org., As Voltas do Passado. A Guerra Colonial e as Lutas de Libertação. Lisboa: Tinta-da-china, pp. 11-20.

Castells, M. (2007) "Communication, Power and Counter-power in the Network Society." International Journal of Communication, 1, pp. 238-266. Available at: https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/46 [accessed 15 May 2019].

Chakrabarty, D. (2000) Provincializing Europe. Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press.

Coelho, J. P. B. (2002) "African Troops in the Portuguese Colonial Army, 1961-1974: Angola, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique." Portuguese Studies Review, 10 (1), pp. 129-150.

Curto, D. R. and Pinto da Cruz, B. (2013) "Terror e saberes coloniais: notas acerca dos incidents na Baixa de Cassange, janeiro e fevereiro de 1961." In: M. B. Jerónimo, org., O Império Colonial em Questão (sécs. XIX-XX): poderes, saberes e instituições. Lisboa: Edições 70, pp. 3-36.

Dean, J. (2010) Blog theory: feedback and capture in the circuits of drive. Cambridge, UK and Malden, MA: Polity Press.

Dhada, M. (2016) The Portuguese Massacre of Wiriyamu in Colonial Mozambique, 1964-2013. London and New York: Bloomsbury Academic.

Ferreira, V. (2018) "Criação do Movimento Nacional Feminino (1961)." In: M. Cardina and B. S. Martins, org., As Voltas do Passado. A Guerra Colonial e as Lutas de Libertação. Lisboa: Tinta-da-china, pp. 89-95.

Ferron, M. and Massa, P. (2014) "Beyond the encyclopedia: Collective memories in Wikipedia." Memory Studies, 7 (1), pp. 22-45. https://doi.org/10.1177/1750698013490590

Figueiredo, I. (2018) Caderno de Memórias Coloniais. São Paulo: Todavia.

Garde-Hansen, J. (2011) Media and Memory. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780748647071

Gomes, C. M. (2016) "A africanização na guerra colonial e as suas sequelas tropas locais - os vilões nos ventos da história." In: M. P. Meneses and B. S. Martins, eds., As Guerras de Libertação e os Sonhos Coloniais: alianças secretas, mapas imaginados. Coimbra: CES/Almedina, pp. 123-141.

Hirsch, M. (2012) Family Frames: Photography, Narrative and Postmemory. Scotts Valley: Createspace.

Jerónimo, M. B., ed. (2013) O império colonial em questão (séc., XIX-XX): poderes, saberes e instituições. Lisboa: Edições 70.

Landsberg, A. (2004) Prosthetic Memory: the transformation of American remembrance in the Age of Mass Culture. New York: Columbia Univ. Press.

Loff, M. (2014) "Dictatorship and revolution: Socio-political reconstructions of collective memory in post-authoritarian Portugal." Culture & History Digital Journal, 3 (2), e017. https://doi.org/10.3989/chdj.2014.017

Luyt, B. (2011) "The nature of historical representation on Wikipedia: dominant or alterative historiography." Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 62 (6), pp. 1058-1065. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.21531

Martins, B. S. (2015) "Violência Colonial e Testemunho: Para Uma Memória Pós-Abissal." Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais, 106, pp. 105-126. https://doi.org/10.4000/rccs.5904

Martins, B. S. (2016) "Corpos-memórias da Guerra Colonial: os Deficientes das Forças Armadas e o 'restolhar de asas no telhado." In: A. S. Ribeiro and M. C. Ribeiro, org., Geometrias da Memória: configurações pós-coloniais. Lisboa: Afrontamento, pp. 305-325.

Merrin, W. (2014) Media studies 2.0. London and New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203083581

Molden, B. (2015) "Resistant pasts versus mnemonic hegemony: On the power relations of collective memory." Memory Studies, 9 (2), pp. 125-142. https://doi.org/10.1177/1750698015596014

Monteiro, J. P. (2018) Portugal e a questão do trabalho forçado: um império sob escrutínio (1944-1962). Lisboa: Edições 70.

Moss, M. (2016) "Opening Pandora's Box: What is an Archive in the Digital Environment?" In: L. Craven, ed., What are archives? Cultural and Theoretical Perspectives: a reader. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 71-88.

Pentzold, Ch. (2009) "Fixing the floating gap: The online encyclopaedia Wikipedia as a global memory place." Memory Studies, 2 (2), pp. 255-272. https://doi.org/10.1177/1750698008102055

Pentzold, Ch., Weltevrede, E., Mauri, M., Laniado, D., Kaltenbrunner, A. and Borra, E. (2017) "Digging Wikipedia: The Online Encyclopedia as a Digital Cultural Heritage Gateway and Site." Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage, 10 (1), pp. 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1145/3012285

Peralta, E. (2014) "O Monumento aos Combatentes: A Performance do Fim do Império no Espaço Sagrado da Nação." In: P. Godinho, org., Antropologia e Performance: agir, atuar, exibir. Castro Verde: 100Luz, pp. 213-236.

Peralta, E. (2017) Lisboa e a memória do império: património, museus e espaço público. Lisboa: Le Monde Diplomatique, Outro Modo.

Peralta, E., Oliveira, J. and Góis, B. (2017) Retornar. Traços de Memória do Fim do Império. Lisboa: Edições 70.

Pereira, M. H. de F. (2015) "Nova direita? Guerras de memória em tempos de Comissão da Verdade (2012-2014)." Varia Historia, 31 (57), pp. 863-902. https://doi.org/10.1590/0104-87752015000300008

Pinto, A. C. and Jerónimo, M. B. (2014). Portugal e o fim do colonialismo. Dimensões internacionais. Lisboa: Edições 70.

Pogačar, M. (2018) "Culture of the Past. Digital connectivity and dispotentiated futures." In: A. Hoskins, ed., Digital Memory Studies. Media Pasts in Transition. New York and London: Routledge, pp. 27-47. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315637235-2

Quintais, L. (2000) As guerras coloniais e a invenção da história. Lisboa: Imprensa da Universidade de Lisboa.

Ribeiro, A. S. and Ribeiro, M. C. (2016) Geometrias da Memória: Configurações Pós-coloniais. Porto; Edições Afrontamento.

Ribeiro, J. (1999) Marcas da guerra colonial. Porto: Campo das Letras.

Ribeiro, M. C. and Vecchi, R. (2012) "Versos e Gritos. Memória Poética da Guerra Colonial." Abril: Revista do Núcleo de Estudos de Literatura Portuguesa e Africana da UFF, 5 (9), pp. 25-39. Available at: http://periodicos.uff.br/revistaabril/article/view/16354 [accessed 15 May 2019]. https://doi.org/10.22409/abriluff.v5i9.29699

Ribeiro, M. C. and Vecchi, R., eds. (2011) Antologia da Memória Poética da Guerra Colonial. Poesia. Série Antologias, 2. Porto: Edições Afrontamento.

Rodrigues, F. da C. (2012) Antigos Combatentes Africanos das Forças Armadas Portuguesas: Guerra Colonial como Território de (Re)conciliação. PhD dissertation in Sociology, Postcolonialism and Global Citizenship, from University of Coimbra, Portugal. Available at: https://estudogeral.sib.uc.pt/handle/10316/23328 [accessed 15 May 2019].

Rodrigues, F. da C. (2013) "A desmobilização dos combatentes africanos das forças armadas portuguesas da guerra colonial (1961-1974)." Ler História, 65, pp. 113-128. https://doi.org/10.4000/lerhistoria.484

Rodrigues, I. N. (2018) Espectros de Batepá: memórias e narrativas do "Massacre de 1953" em São Tomé e Príncipe. Porto: Edições Afrontamento.

Rosas, F., Machaqueiro, M. and Oliveira, P. A., eds. (2015) O adeus ao Império: 40 anos de descolonização portuguesa. Lisboa: Veja.

Rosenzweig, R. (2006) "Can History Be Open Source? Wikipedia and the Future of the Past." The Journal of American History, 93 (1), pp. 117-146. https://doi.org/10.2307/4486062

Rousso, H. (2016) The Latest Catastrophe: History, the Present, the Contemporary. Translated by J. M. Todd. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226165370.001.0001

Said, E. (1994) Culture and Imperialism. New York: Vintage Books.

Schröter, M. and Taylor, Ch. (2018) "Introduction." In: M. Schröter and Ch. Taylor, eds., Exploring silence and absence in discourse: empirical approaches. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64580-3_1

Tkacz, N. (2015) Wikipedia and the politics of openness. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226192444.001.0001

Traverso, E. (2012) La historia como campo de batalla. Interpretar las violencias del siglo XX. Buenos Aires: Fondo de Cultura Económica.

Trouillot, M.-R. (2015 [1995]) Silencing the past: Power and the Production of History. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.

Van Dijck, J. (2007) Mediated memories in the digital age. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780804779517

Van Dijck, J. (2013) The culture of connectivity: a critical history of social media. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199970773.001.0001

Van Dijk, T. A. (2008) Discourse and power. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire and New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Van Dijk, T. A. (2009) Society and discourse: how social contexts influence text and talk. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511575273

Van Dijk, T. A. (2014) Discourse and knowledge: a sociocognitive approach. New York: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107775404

Voloshinov, V. N. (1986) Marxism and the Philosophy of Language. Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press.

Winter, J. (2010) "Thinking about silence." In: E. Ben-Ze'ev, R. Ginio and J. Winter, eds., Shadows of War. A Social History of Silence in the Twentieth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 3-31. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511676178.002

Wolff, R. S. (2013) "The Historian's Craft, Popular Memory, and Wikipedia." In: K. Nawrotzki and J. Dougherty, eds., Writing History in the Digital Age. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Available at: https://apps.crossref.org/coaccess/coaccess.html?doi=10.3998%2Fdh.12230987.0001.001#5.2 [accessed 28 May 2019].