Ultracolonialism, Neocolonialism and Specificities of the Independences of Portuguese Africa

Abstract

The text discusses the phenomenon of African independence and the consequent post-colonial situation from the implementation of the policy of neocolonialism. In order to do so, it takes as its object of analysis the experiences of Portuguese-speaking Africa. In this sense, it seeks to understand the specificities of the historical conditions of colonialism, independence movements and the neocolonial situation of Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa. Therefore, it is demonstrated how the longevity of the Portuguese presence on the African continent brought a series of situations which determined the way in which the independences were processed. Likewise, it analyzes the situation of Portugal in relation to the other imperialist colonizing European countries that allowed the Portuguese to remain in a considerable territorial contingent in Africa during the 20th century. Finally, the text makes use of the historian Perry Anderson's concepts of ultracolonialism and Francis Kwame Nkrumah's neocolonialism to analyze the particularities of the Portuguese colonial experience in Africa and the phenomena of independence and post-colonial situation of Portuguese-speaking African nations.