By situating Lusophone case studies within a broader and longer historical pattern of memory contestations, and drawing on postcolonial memory scholarship, the special issue aims to contribute to the expanding, though still comparatively limited, English-language scholarship on memory activism involving present-day commemorations and spaces connected with Portuguese colonial history.
It will examine decolonial practices and explore the (im)possibilities of these efforts, whether through overt acts of iconoclasm or through subtler interventions – such as artistic or media-based engagements with ‘sites’.
At the same time, it will recognise that such acts, in seeking either to erase entirely commemorations associated with Portuguese colonialism or to open space alongside commemorations for marginalised voices and silenced histories, simultaneously provoke retaliatory responses from those who criticise these (decolonial) actions.
We seek contributions that engage with this outline, and while we welcome all studies addressing memory activism in relation to colonial memory sites of Portuguese provenance within Lusophone spaces, submissions should focus on events from the past decade (2015–2025), or revisit incidents before 2015 if they are examined in light of recent developments concerning ‘sites’, and relate to one or more of the themes listed below.
Deadline 31 March 2026
