This text is relevant to better understand the Autognosis and, consequently, to better understand my music.
This interpretation and explanation of the fundamental Portuguese traits was undertaken due to the understanding that the process of analysing a particular culture would also provide answers in relation to my role as a citizen and artist. For this, it was necessary to create a certain distance from the identity elements that are known to me, thus searching for a vast bibliography of Portuguese thinkers. Perhaps the attempt to dissociate my perspective and view about the identity of these people was possible by moving abroad in 2012.
Eduardo Lourenço, in “O Labirinto da Saudade”, concedes that “the average Portuguese person hardly knows their homeland” because they live it rather than understand it[1]. This is one of the reasons why I do this work. I want to understand and be aware of the influences I have received. I grew up defining myself as part of a collective, influenced (more or less consciously) by the characteristics and generalisations built up over the centuries in Portugal. These characterisations are, admittedly, influenced by specific facts, but also created by the reading of historians and intellectuals over the years.
Assuming that a nation “is a product of processes placed in time and space”[2], it is crucial to look at Portuguese identity as such, taking into account the development of the process of creating a national feeling throughout history.
Here, my aim is not to make an extensive analysis, but to present some characteristics which are most present in Portuguese identity.
Portuguese Identity: An Overview
estimated read time: 2 minutes
The exercise of understanding an identity, whatever it may be, is extremely delicate. In other words, the “idea that nations have their own character, an essence, detectable in their various manifestations”[3] is illusory, but the way in which these interpretations are received - individually and collectively - is real, having an influence on the way in which a people or an individual observes him/herself. We can assume that this collective is imagined, not imaginary, as it offers profound implications for the life (personal and social) of an individual[4].
Collective identities are not static, i.e. the definition of national identity (in this case) does not remain unchanged over the years, due to all the contexts that involve that same collective. Nevertheless, being the outcome of the history and development of that same collective, they bring together the most representative elements developed over the years (centuries or millennia).
Nonetheless, we can present collective identity elements as a product of human action, built and created over centuries[5]. These elements, part of identity structuring, are the result of political, economic and social processes and the interpretation of history. These constructions of identities are also influenced by the interaction with the other, leading in some cases to imitation or, in others, to confrontation/reaction. Therefore, this process does not take place isolated in a “determined space and separated from what happens in other places”[6].
As Sobral explains, “(...) a national identity is a part of a complex of identities: social, family-related, local, regional, gendered, political; we even identify with transactional realities, such as those linked to continents endowed with symbolic meaning”[7].
The collective identity of a country, besides the rituals contained therein, is also constituted by the narratives developed in its history and by the daily life of those who are part of it. Therefore, national identity consists of a perception of continuity between the past and the present, the result of history and the interpretations applied to it. It is clear that with the changes in society - and also the strategy of the Portuguese internal and external politics -, the collective memories and the “mental geographies”[8] of Portugal are also being transformed and shaped to the current situation of the country. The calendar also has an influence on the national way of being, leading us to reproduce, more or less consciously, specific patterns of collective behaviour[9].
These elements, which foster the feeling of national identity, are, in general, historical narrative, by articulating the past, the present and the wishes for the future, the acceptance of shared myths about the origin, the territory and the official language (or languages, in some countries). The identification with these elements leads to the acceptance of a collective name, leading the individual to feel represented by the shared name (in this case "Portuguese"). Thus, national identity ultimately results in the sharing of a name - in this case, Portugal, Portuguese -, and of a territory[10].
We can therefore start by assuming that to be Portuguese is to know you are part of a collective that includes all the elements, regardless of the coexistence of some inherent differences. Although the task of defining a fixed, stable, general identity of the Portuguese culture seems unfeasible to us, we present below some elements or characteristics that, according to some authors quoted below, form part of this culture.
Some Portuguese elements or characteristics:
estimated read time: 2 minutes
First, some general views of Portuguese identity will be presented, and then some details of its fundamental characteristics.
We can start by acknowledging the non-existence of “an identity essence of Portugal, a metaphysical notion synthesising Portugal’s existence and identifying its history”[11]. It would be at the very least risky to try to diminish the history of a country and the character of a people to an ‘identity essence’. As we will soon see, over the centuries that Portugal has been continuously building, developing and reconstructing itself, there are several elements that cannot be reduced to a single definition. Miguel Real describes "the insistence, throughout the ages, but more strongly since the end of the monarchy (...) on the search for an absolute, transcendent, exclusive, exceptional and extraordinary concept, defining national identity or the Portuguese individual" as one of the major misconceptions of cultural theorists in Portugal[12]. Nevertheless, these interpretations or elements of culture (for example, the "Fifth Empire", "saudade", or the "divine" in the creation of the nation) collectively create a more complex and diverse notion of national identity.
The Portuguese identity has its bases in the common European history (and identity). Religion, literature, daily habits, among others, demonstrate this integration since the beginning of the nation, despite the simultaneous but independent (or individual) cultural development that existed in the country.
Throughout the Portuguese history several authors have tried to define national identity. We are aware that this is not static, having been altered with the course of national and international events, as a "multimode and plural historical itinerary, reacting to external pressures and to inner impulses”[13]. We find Portuguese cultural elements that lead us back to customs and cults of people before the Portuguese ("Iberians and Celts, Greeks and Phoenicians, Carthaginians and Romans, Suevi, Alans and Vandals, Visigoths, Moors and Arabs, colonies from Central Europe emigrated here and black populations came here as slaves”[14]), being, also, a result of the above mentioned historical path of the country (for example, the Discoveries and the creation, establishment and fall of an Empire).
In this existing national union there is a plurality of identities. One of the heterogeneous factors in Portugal are the regional differences we can find in it. Although there are in Portugal differences at the cultural level (religious beliefs, gastronomy, education, leisure and entertainment, behavioural attitudes...) specific to each region, the "general homogeneity of behavioural complexes and feelings" is not affected, since these are not sufficiently distinct to be understood as fragmentary or singular in relation to the common cultural whole[15]. These aforementioned differences are neither hidden nor minimised in cultural life to the detriment of an exclusive centrality, but are pursued and valued.
We also find differences between erudite and popular Portuguese culture. In an analysis of this duality (in this case until the end of the 20th century), Miguel Real characterises erudite culture as "rationalist and literate, transmitted by an academic education, coming from Rome or Paris (...), theologically Christian, lyrical expression of a biblical homeland", while popular culture was "emotional and spontaneous, transmitted in the public places of the threshing-floor, the churchyard, the sanctuary, the pilgrimage", although it also obeyed "age-old pagan traditions”[16].
Fundamental Characteristics - or Identity Factors - of Portugal
estimated read time: 1 minute
Miguel Real, in his book “Traços Fundamentais da Cultura Portuguesa”[17] (2017), presents five historical constants that coexist over the centuries in Portugal and that represent the profile - sometimes more or less clearly - of the identity of Portugal and the Portuguese, thus constituting cultural patterns "that each Portuguese would inherit via their integration in the fundamental institutions”[18]. These five constants are: 1) social inequality, present since the 16th century, present in "haughtiness, ostentation and vanity among the superior social groups (...) and envy and resentment among the inferior groups. 2) the consequent contempt of the elites (political, economic and religious) in relation to the populations ("rustic and servile"), which the author argues is present in "sebastianism" - the belief that something or someone will save the Portuguese as a nation; 3) the behavioural duality which opposes the exaltation of national virtues to their devaluation; 4) the constant imitation by the political, social and intellectual elites of their counterparts in European countries (France and England, mainly), accumulated with a subordination to the ideological impositions of the Church, which gives the latter a very strong power in the formation and moulding of mentality; 5) emigration as the only form of reaction to the way in which the Portuguese people felt they were treated by the national elites[19].
These five general historical constants produce four anthropological and cultural complexes that are the basis for the identification - and sense of identity - present in Portugal throughout its 800 years of History: Exemplary Origin, Superior Nation, Inferior Nation and Cultural Cannibalism. These four visions of Portuguese identity, which will be presented below, naturally, cyclically and recurrently influence each and every Portuguese[20]. As they are closely linked, their individual characterisation is complex.
Exemplary origin: The creation of a nation - Viriato, Afonso Henriques and the Divine
estimated read time: 4 minutes
Although I do not want to write or present a history of Portugal, I think it is necessary to talk about some of the steps followed during its foundation and development, in order to better understand this perception of “exemplary origin”.
As happened in other countries, also in Portugal, from the end of the 15th century, there was a growing concern with the lineage of the kingdom and the Portuguese, a concern that became even more relevant at the time of the dynastic union with Spain (1580-1640).
There are several theories, more or less validated by the research developed over all these centuries, which defend different origins and lineages, relating the Portuguese people and the nation to other populations that previously inhabited the Iberian Peninsula. All of them have in common the search for an origin and the prestigious genealogy of a people, whose timeless physical and psychological characteristics could be distinguished from the others[21]. Of all these theories, the most consensual - although lacking factual evidence - is the connection to the Lusitanians. The Lusitanians were a pre-Roman Iberian people of Indo-European origin who inhabited the interior western region of the Iberian Peninsula, resisting the Roman invasions for a long period.
This connection with the Lusitanians was created by intellectuals over the centuries, as José Manuel Sobral describes (2012, p. 23). Sá de Miranda (1481-1558), "unearthed" in the second half of the 16th century the image of Viriato, the most prominent Lusitanian leader. Among other things, Sá de Miranda uses the image of the Lusitanian leader as a moral archetype, criticising the dominant cultural modes existing in Portugal: Viriato (180 BC-130 BC), a pure hero, 'model soldier', immaculate, shepherd, simple man, who rebels against the Romans leading his people to successive victories despite unfavourable situations, only defeated due to the betrayal of some companions[22].
Later, other authors developed lyrical texts that gave strength to this idea, such as "Os Lusíadas", by L. Camões, a Portuguese emblematic work. In this work, Camões portrays Viriato as an example of heroism, a military and moral model for the glorious deeds of the Portuguese in the defence of their territory and the values of freedom and national independence[23].
Also Frei Bernardo de Brito (1569-1617) offers a connection of Portugal to Viriato, classifying him as a 'common defender of the freedom of the homeland', as if Viriato possessed the consciousness of what would later be Portugal and its identity[24].
Therefore, it is from the works of these authors (Sá de Miranda, Camões, Frei Bernardo de Brito, adding also Brás Garcia Mascarenhas[25]) that the image of Viriato as a moral, ethical and military example of Portugal is created. This is an image that the Portuguese use to 'protect' their historical and cultural identity.
Also the mythical narrative of Afonso Henriques (c. 1110 - 1185), the first king of Portugal, places us before the “myth of the founding hero”[26] and is used as an example of an "Exemplary Origin", although these narratives are not historically proven. Here, the real is made mythical, following narratives of "mythic consciousness”[27]. The veracity of the facts is not seen as relevant when compared to the strength that legends and myths have given to the creation of a collective destiny and, therefore, of Portuguese identity over the centuries. The episode of the acclamation of King Dom Afonso Henriques by his people, after, according to myth, Jesus Christ had announced his victory before the battle of Ourique, adds to this narrative of the hero's individual merit the virtue of divine providence[28].
At first, the territory expanded towards the centre and south, leading to clashes with Muslims. Portugal's borders were defined in 1297, in the Treaty of Alcanizes. This fact, apart from making the country the oldest nation-state in Europe with defined borders - perhaps one of the great national prides - was decisive in the creation of the State and the development of a collective from the heterogeneity of the territory and its inhabitants[29].
Thus, and from the creation of the State, a "nominal identity" began to exist, i.e. represented by a common name (Portuguese, Portugal) - as opposed to the idea of "virtual identity", or potential identity -, but its inhabitants only recognised themselves as part of that collective a few centuries later[30].
For all the elements presented above, it was developed in Portugal the idea that the creation and development of the country was done in an exemplary way. Later, in the 20th century, the Estado Novo (New State) in Portugal presented and defended Viriato as the "Father of the Homeland", thus using this image to defend many events and interpretations of the history of Portugal[31]. This ideology, which links the history of Portugal to Viriato, still today has great weight in the perception of the identity of the country and of the Portuguese, and is accepted by the majority of the Portuguese, although, as already mentioned, there are no facts to prove it. From Viriato, and from the subsequent interpretation of his life, results an ethical model of conduct, of a humble Portuguese, linked to tradition, to the family and defender of the nation[32].
Superior vs Inferior Nation
estimated read time: 1 minute
Before we focus individually on the next anthropological and cultural complexes ("Superior Nation" and "Inferior Nation"), it is perhaps important to mention that there is a historical bipolarity which is taken as a commonplace of the profile of the Portuguese and of Portugal. These two peaks, based on "voluntaristic, optimistic enthusiasm and pessimistic, self-castigating prostration”[33], may be analysed as the basis of the "Superior Nation" and "Inferior Nation" complexes. It is relevant to mention that Miguel Real argues that the second pole mentioned above has no autonomous existence, resulting from a reaction to the "deceleration of vibrant enthusiasm”[34].
According to António José Saraiva, there are two major myths in the history of Portugal that may meet the mentioned complexes. In the first myth, from the beginning of the nation until the 17th-18th centuries, the messianic and encouraging ideal of the Crusade prevails. In the second, from Marquês de Pombal until 1986 (the year Portugal joined the EEC), Decadence contradicts the first myth mentioned here. In any case, and as we shall see below, these myths are not merely linked to one historical moment in the country, and this division is therefore tenuous.
The coexistence of these two complexes has not been overcome or resolved throughout the history of Portuguese culture, and it is usual for the common Portuguese, if we can call them that, to feel between these two poles. Eduardo Lourenço considers that this duality is due to an attempt - perhaps unconscious - to “hide from ourselves our authentic situation of historical being in a state of intrinsic fragility”[35]. Possibly we can assume that this dichotomy still consumes us as a people, being yesterday and always in the uncertainty of the real capacity of the nation.
But we shall understand better what each of these anthropological and cultural complexes represents and their development throughout history.
Superior Nation - António Vieira and Fernando Pessoa
estimated read time: 4 minutes
The “Superior Nation” complex arose as a reaction to the decadence of the Empire since the reign of King Dom João III, after the Discoveries and the military failures such as Alcácer Quibir, adding to these facts the merging of Portugal to the Spanish crown. From then on, Portugal remained in a constant state of restlessness, hoping to "awake", to wake up to new cultural and spiritual conquests. Portugal must, under this view, wish for more "than what our forces ask of us and what circumstances demand of us”[36]. In this way, and thinking of returning to the glory experienced in the past, Portugal seeks to announce itself as a superior nation, compared to other countries, as we can see in the vision expressed in the works of António Vieira (1608-1697), Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935) and Agostinho da Silva (1906-1994)[37].
From the end of the 16th century, the country would live more according to the past and the future, than the present. Portugal was suspended in time, with dreams and desires, after having been the “head of Europe” at the time of the Discoveries. It thus sees itself lagging behind other European countries.
For this reason, a new "Messiah" is sought in order to revive and re-energise Portugal and its society and to give hope for the country's glorious future. Therefore, we reach Sebastianism, or the myth of King Sebastian, present in the collective consciousness of the Portuguese, created from the disappearance and absence of King Sebastian in 1578, after the battle of Alcácer-Quibir. This King represented the ideal of the good-king, understanding, inspiring, adventuring with his people in battle.
The early disappearance of the King is later transposed into the hope of his return. This mythical narrative is, even today, more important than the true fact of the disappearance, and the hope that this "regenerating Messiah of Portuguese society" may return is still present in Portuguese culture and society[38]. Therefore, the sebastian myth clearly presents the "suspension of chronological historical time", replacing this presented decadence by a "mythical time", transtemporal[39].
This myth gathers and crosses three pre-existing myths: the Celtic myth of King Arthur, the Christian millenarian myth of the abbot Joaquim de Fiore and the myths of “O Encoberto” and “Quinto Império” (“The Fifth Empire”) documented in “Trovas do Bandarra”. It dwells in the "hallucinated" consciousness of some Portuguese[40] as a reaction to the social and political conditions of the time (the disappearance of the king, the loss of independence and the devaluation of Portugal's importance in the world are some of the most important[41]), and was later incorporated as part of the collective history of Portugal.
To António Vieira, being Portuguese implied a constant obligation “to leave one’s self” and “to leave one's homeland”[42]. “Leaving one's self” as a pilgrim of the world, but also in the form of an unusual "madness", for he thought that this madness would bring the dream as great as the peace and harmony of the world[43]. Thus, for António Vieira there were two ways of "going through the world", that of " the ignorant" and that of the "pilgrims". The first would be those who felt exiled outside the land of their birth. The latter would see the world as a common home in time and history[44].
In "Sermão de Santo António" by António Vieira in Rome, he introduces the thesis that being "the light of the world" is, for the Portuguese, an "obligation of nature", while for other peoples it would be "privilege of grace". Thus, it would be necessary for the Portuguese to leave their homeland, following in the footsteps of Saint Anthony, who was also Portuguese. In this way, each Portuguese would have the "obligation of being a pilgrim", it would not be enough to be born in Portugal to be "truly Portuguese", being necessary “to be the light of the world”[45].
The work of António Vieira perfectly theorises the image of Portugal as a superior nation[46], incorporating two currents existing in Portugal in the 17th century with a messianic vision of the country's culture. The first, concerning sebastianism and ‘joanismo’, is based on the Trovas de Bandarra (1500-1556). The second one, Jewish messianism, although also based on the "Trovas", interprets the “o Encoberto” (a figure presented therein) not as a Portuguese king, but as messiah. António Vieira was also inspired by the manuscript of the book of Menasseh Ben Israel, Esperança de Israel, linked to this second current[47].
Hence, the basis for the Luso-centrism later developed in the texts of Fernando Pessoa and Almada Negreiros was laid. In fact, António Vieira's work influenced the growing providentialist ideology of the glory homeland of the 20th century, followed and developed by, among others, Teixeira de Pascoaes, Fernando Pessoa, Agostinho da Silva and Dalila Pereira da Costa[48].
According to Fernando Pessoa's rhetoric, it was indispensable to be cosmopolitan in order to be Portuguese, "to be everything in every way", and for this author, the "denationalisation" of the Portuguese was a way for them to find themselves.
Perhaps because, in the words of Eduardo Lourenço, we are "great far away, outside of ourselves, in the dream East or in a still unthought West", we feel small here, in Europe, which used to see us “less than it saw itself entertained in the sumptuous or funeral celebrations of family quarrels with which it liquidated feudalism and generated the modern world (capitalism, Protestantism, science)”[49].
Inferior Nation - The decadence of the nation and national pessimism
estimated read time: 3 minutes
In the opposite direction, but, as we have already mentioned, intimately linked to the previous complex, we find the “Inferior Nation” complex.
Starting at the end of the 18th century, there was, in Portugal, a recognition of the inherent poverty of national society. The “Inferior Nation” complex was born from the acceptance of the failed dream of the glorious Empire, leading the Portuguese and their state to lament that loss, feeling humiliated as an inferior people and nation[50]. Thus, and by comparison with other European peoples, the Portuguese people feels part of an “inferior, barbaric, rustic, archaic nation”[51]. In this way, this decadence meant "the definitive historical death of a people", which, up to the end of its economic glory, had importance on the international scene, but from that moment on did not believe in its collective "resurrection", which led to a loss of moral values[52].
This complex presents a "historical void", of a country "suspended in time", adding an impatient culture and society that manifests itself in a strongly pessimistic cultural strand. The realisation that Portugal had lost its glorious empire generated a society that was unbelieving in its own capacities[53].
In opposition to the "Superior Nation" complex previously presented, where we easily found positive images of Portugal, here we find, in the collective memory of the Portuguese and of Portugal, negative images of ourselves. These are the result of a political-ideological reflection, motivated by patriotic visions, which lead to different interpretations of the past and also different wishes for the future[54].
Several causes were put forward over the centuries for this Portuguese decline. Luís António Verney (1713-1792), still in the 18th century, pointed out five philosophical causes: “cultural fear of works published abroad; ignorance of modern philosophy (Descartes, Mersenne, among others); false identification of this philosophy with atheism; disproportionate importance of the mentality of the Council of Trent; misinterpretation of Aristotle as interpreted through Scholasticism (University of Coimbra)”[55]. In the 19th century, Alexandre Herculano (1810-1877) pointed out three other causes: the absolutism of the monarchy; a nobility which, despite having lost economic power, has continued to enjoy privileges, preventing social mobility; and finally, the influence of the Inquisition and counter-reformism on the people's mentality. Finally, António Sérgio (1883-1969) attributes two causes to this decline. The first, a difference in education and culture in Portugal and that existing in Central Europe. The second, “the international isolation of Portugal between the second half of the 16th century and the 17th century”[56].
According to Miguel Real, this inferiority also has to do with the difference between the wealth of the State and the Church, and the poverty of the people. Marquês de Pombal (1699-1782), revolutionised Portugal and its state (royal treasury, reorganised education, economy, town planning, regalist policy), convinced that if he radically changed the profile of the Portuguese elites, the country would have all the requirements to match the countries of Central and Northern Europe. Thus, and still according to Miguel Real, from the liberal revolution of 1820 onwards, all Portuguese modernist movements were born out of this cultural complex, pointing their political and cultural course towards the value of Europe[57].
Such pessimism emerged from the social and ideological tension between the population's hope for prosperity and the "organisational asphyxia" that the "mediocre and uneducated" elites applied to the people. Thus, we could say that the Portuguese people are not structurally pessimistic, but the pessimism they feel is a reaction to the way they see themselves treated by their politicians and statesmen[58].
Only in the 1980s did Portugal find itself integrated into an idea of Europe, “with 50 years of delay”, achieving the principle of inclusion that it had pursued for 250 years[59]. As part of the EU, the Portuguese have been recovering hope in a future full of new achievements, which can make them forget the past where the country had no relevance on the international scene.
Cultural Cannibalism
estimated read time: 1 minute
The “Cultural Cannibalism” complex represents the way in which each school of thought in Portugal was sustained solely by the hostility of the “opposite thought, of the contrary doctrine, of the different theory”[60]. According to Miguel Real, this complex represents a “poisonous and barbaric” country, creating political and intellectual currents which, by negatively feeding on its competitors, sought to humiliate them[61]. Those who presented a different vision to the ruling power were considered “enemies to be slaughtered” [62]. According to this author, the Inquisition, the Pombaline Intendency or the Censorship in the Estado Novo are examples of this complex[63].
Miguel Real defines the period between 1580 (the year of independence loss) and 1980 (the date of the EEC pre-accession agreement) as the time of cultural cannibalism, a period in which the Portuguese culturally and intellectually fed off each other. In this way, Portugal reacted impulsively to " opponents " in an absolutist quest to reconvert the other, condemning their ideas as "heretical, heterodox, abject", in order to eliminate them[64].
This attitude in Portuguese society led some Portuguese thinkers to seek exile (Luís António Verney, Agostinho da Silva, Eduardo Lourenço, Jorge de Sena) and others even to commit suicide (Antero de Quental, Camilo Castelo Branco).
Other features of Portuguese culture
estimated read time: 1 minute
Throughout the country’s history, the Portuguese identity was portrayed by intellectuals (writers, philosophers) in different ways. Below, I present in synthesised form some of the features[65]:
- humble rural people (Eduardo Lourenço); lover of the values of the homeland (Jorge Dias); feeling of ‘saudade’; very strong popular culture (António José Saraiva);
- sentimental, loving, kind religiosity; that turns nature into sacredness (Jorge Dias)
- ironic, satirical, with a critical popular spirit (Jorge Dias);
- generosity without limits; individualistic, but generous and solidarity-oriented; devoid of tacit calculating (Jorge Dias);
- eternally geared towards emigration (Jorge Dias); blurring of cultural borders (António José Saraiva);
- the spirit of sacrifice and resignation; capacity to suffer beyond the limit of reason; the ability to 'manage' (Jorge Dias);
- an emotional spirit, anti-rationalist; sentimental; averse to intellectualisation and given to imagination, to dreams (Eduardo Lourenço);
Portuguese culture also has a high capacity for improvisation, which Miguel Real characterises as a "quality of poor people or adventurous people, who are forced to 'manage' with whatever is at hand”[66]. This "quality" is based on a psychological intuition of everyday life in which it is expected that there is another way out of problems, as small as it may be, in order to overcome difficulties. In my opinion, what this demonstrates is a consecutive lack of planning, both at the State and individual level. Another characteristic that seems to be consensual, and is somehow linked to this constant "improvisation", is the sentimental and emotional Portuguese lyricism, through which the people show themselves to be "eager for wealth and solidarity", defending that passion is more valuable than reason. Portugal is thus a nation where the values of feeling and emotion, generosity, sharing and companionship are defended, united in a search for justice, which in the end never comes[67].
Portuguese “backwardness”
estimated read time: 1 minute
Since the 18th century, especially with Luís António Verney's criticism in “Verdadeiro Método de Estudar” (1746), Portugal has been seen as a culturally undeveloped country. Verney attributes Portugal's backwardness to “inattention to the studies of the other Europe, the fruit of a culpable self-absorption”[68]. This numbness in relation to the progress of other European peoples was due to the satisfaction with the singularity that the Portuguese and Spanish felt in relation to their countries, making them "less aware of foreign cultural dynamics" and "the new cosmopolitanism of the scientific academies and the new philosophy”[69].
Eduardo Lourenço, in Heterodoxia I (1949), also identifies the “strong absence of a European mentality since the second half of the 16th century”[70] as a major factor for the existence of this cultural scarcity. According to Eduardo Lourenço, to overcome this backwardness it was necessary to broaden the horizons of the country, raising the cultural ambitions, overcoming the folklorism and exoticism of our habits[71]. This would only be possible with a dialogue with Europe, a dialogue which, according to Miguel Real, is lacking in Portugal and Spain “since the establishment of the Inquisition in the first half of the 16th century”[72]. We can say that this backwardness has been overcome since the end of the Salazar dictatorship and the consequent accession of Portugal to the EEC.
The ‘estrangeirados’
estimated read time: 2 minutes
In the words of António Pinto Ribeiro, ‘estrangeirado’ is, in general terms, “the individual who was forced to go abroad, for political and cultural reasons, for not finding in Portugal the conditions of feasibility and realisation for his creative projects”[73].
This term was introduced in the 18th-19th centuries to designate a group of Portuguese who considered that Portugal was not culturally integrated into Europe, having introduced ideas from other European countries (Enlightenment and Liberal ideas) into the country in order to seek this integration. These thinkers argued that the path that Portugal should follow had to be framed with the European spirit, with innovation and the natural and exact sciences[74].
Carlos Leone considers that there were three 'waves' of foreigners in the 20th century that influenced the Portuguese cultural framework. The first foreigners left Portugal voluntarily or in exile when the Estado Novo was established; the second left because of “disagreement with the political regime or the need to further higher education”[75]. The third and final wave consisted of people who left Portugal after April 25th 1974, by choice, to pursue specialisations that did not exist in the country. Only in the 20th century, with A. Sérgio and H. Cidade, did this term cease to have a pejorative meaning[76].
The ‘estrangeirados’ played a key role in Portugal's development (and its scientific and academic development), confronting, in one way or another, power institutions such as the State and the Church[77]. Few Portuguese thinkers fall outside the term "estrangeirado", from Verney, Ribeiro Sanches and Marquês de Pombal (18th century) to Eduardo Lourenço. The estrangeirados thus defended the European spirit, innovation, overcoming a static traditionalism, promoting the natural and exact sciences against the demoralisation of an almost exclusively literary culture[78].
Nowadays, this term is no longer used, perhaps due to the fact that there is a constant search for learning in other European countries. Miguel Real states that nowadays "ALL the Portuguese elite (with the honourable exception of two or three intellectuals and politicians) are 'estrangeirada', i.e. they accept and support the influence and direct and indirect infusion of foreign cultural products in the formation of Portuguese behavioural complexes, changing them radically”[79].
The influence of Estado Novo
estimated read time: 9 minutes
In this sub-chapter, we do not intend to present the historical steps that were taken for the creation of the Estado Novo (1933-1974), but we do want to expose some characteristics and the process of the transformation of a people in those years, as the changes developed therein are still perceptible - and relevant - today. Many of the Portuguese attitudes, beliefs, traditions and practices, which still exist in Portugal today, are the result of creations - or changes - during the Estado Novo.
During the Estado Novo, "popular culture" was seen as a combination of the people' traditional culture and the transformation of their mentality by the action of the state, thus the people were simultaneously the 'subject' and the 'object' of culture. In this way, popular tradition was the mechanism of political promotion, acting as a quest to return to the origins, in order to “reaportuguesar Portugal”, a well-known motto of Salazarism[80]. The regime sought to demonstrate that rural popular culture was a "moral reserve of secular national values", associating cultural practices with its ideological conceptions. Furthermore, by preserving the traditional uses and customs of the "peasant universe", a greater identification of the people with cultural policy was created. Cultural associations - such as ranchos folclóricos - were promoted, created and restructured, integrating popular culture into the ideological conception of society[81]. During the Estado Novo, and through the work developed by António Ferro, the typical regional characteristics of the Portuguese people (“popular culture, festivals and pilgrimages, historical processions, the country-village”) were modified in order to spread the State's ideology, giving strength to the ‘myth of rurality’ “which would guarantee the security and modesty of the country and the regime”. An example of this is the contest of the "Most Portuguese Village in Portugal", where an “exciting image of our honourable and clean poverty that does not envy the richness of anyone” was celebrated[82].
In order to strengthen Salazar's ideology, the SPN (Secretariado de Propaganda Nacional, National Propaganda Secretariat) was created in 1933, which later became the National Secretariat of Information. This organisation promoted the symbolic and ideological recognition of traditional culture, attributing importance to particular aspects of popular culture with traditional roots. The SPN coordinated a strategy of revitalisation of cultural manifestations, developing an "official style of folkloric suggestion, based on the crossing of erudite and popular references”[83]. One of the most important examples of this action was the "Exhibition of the Portuguese World" (1940) where the date of the Foundation of the Portuguese State (1140) and the Restoration of Independence (1640) were commemorated, and, mainly, the Estado Novo, then in a phase of consolidation, was celebrated. Here, and through artistically conceived staging, there was a quest to transmit the values of the State. The institutional recognition of the Museum of Popular Art, created in 1948, was part of this process, as were some festive events supported by the municipalities, which integrated the ruralist-traditionalist model in the staging and in the costumes used.
Popular culture was thus a decisive part of the wide affirmation of official political ideology. To this end, cultural organisations were created through the SPN, such as the FNAT (Fundação Nacional para Alegria no Trabalho - National Foundation for Joy at Work) and the JAS (Junta de Acção Social - Social Action Board), which promoted daily cultural life through the introduction of various cultural contents (libraries, cinema, theatre, rural ethnographic museums, handicrafts, folk ranches, choral groups, games, sports, etc.). These organisations were active throughout the countryside[84]. The “rural universe” was, then, the " inspirational source for the elaboration of a cultural model of its own" that led to the dictatorship lasting all those years, putting an end to the “globalising ambition”[85].
It was sought to adapt the country to a 'modesty', glorifying poverty and humility. Therefore, an idea of an exemplary, poor Portuguese was manufactured, using the above presented image of Viriato. During the years of the Estado Novo, an "ideological, sociological and cultural fiction" was created, an official imaginary creation that the country had no problems, an “oasis of peace, example of the nations, archetype of the ideal solution that reconciled capital and work, order and authority with a harmonious development of society”[86]. The real problems were hidden, from persecutions, political scandals (for example the case of the "Ballet Rose"), to suicides, alcoholism, low qualification and schooling to structural poverty. This whole process was time-consuming, created so perfectly that it would be impossible to counteract that unreal image with another one opposed to the regime (the real image).
The current state of Portuguese folklore is still an influence of the Estado Novo and its policies, developed essentially by António Ferro - head of propaganda for the regime led by António Salazar. Fernando Rosa, in his book “Salazar e o Poder - A Arte de Saber Durar”, describes “the process of the takeover of power by the political and ideological front”[87] of Salazar and the historical factors that demonstrate the way in which the Estado Novo knew how to, and was able to, preserve Salazar and his government for 36 consecutive years. Censorship of the media and entertainment, suppression of fundamental freedoms and control of the police and judicial system were essential for Salazar's regime to last so long[88]. The “totalizing control of society, the action of the apparatus of inculcation and ideological framework (...), the prevention, were more decisive than the repression itself in the stabilization” were thus essential[89].
In addition to the de-politicisation and political demobilisation of the Portuguese people that the Estado Novo inculcated among the population “for its own security”, Salazarism had as its great goal the education of the “new man”, creating it[90]. Ferro, who was “an intermediary of Salazar with the people”, shows that “to ‘do new work’ it was necessary ‘first of all, to renew the individual, to transform him’”[91]. In this way, Salazarism seeks to create (or present) the “new man”. It was necessary “the renewal of the tradition of authentic Portugal, of heroes, saints and knights that the new regime” could re-establish[92]. One may say that the Portuguese government knew, following the model of Mussolini’s regime in Italy, that “modern dictatorships (...) needed the party, the music, the crowd, the Roman salute, the chants, the watchwords (...)”[93].
In Ferro’s interviews with Salazar, it is clear that the theme of ‘regeneration of souls’ would be one of the “dictator’s favourites”[94]. Despite the qualities that Salazar saw in the Portuguese people (among them being ‘kind’, ‘suffering’, ‘docile’, ‘hardworking’, and ‘intelligent’), there were, for the Portuguese dictator, some “traditional imperfections” that, if not corrected, “would hinder the work of rebirth in progress” and would influence the sick spirit of the people[95]. These flaws included “sentimentalism, horror of discipline, individualism, lack of persistence and tenacity, inconstancy, superficiality, improvisation”[96]. Therefore, it was necessary to save the Portuguese people “from themselves”, countering “the pernicious instincts, uprooting from the soul and character of those spiritual cripples, educating them, moulding them, disciplining them, renewing their mentality”[97].
This ‘regenerating of the souls’, the struggle against the imperfections, enhancing the “virtues of the race”, this fabrication of the Salazarist “new man”, hard-working, disciplined, respectful of religion and order, conformed to his life, was done through “mass propaganda”[98]. This propaganda was seen as an “information service about the activities and achievements of the regime that the bad faith, the lies and the subversive insidiousness of its enemies forced to create”[99].
The national interest was defined by the elites, having them, therefore, “the patriotic duty to save the nation, to impose the path of its regeneration, even against the contaminated and bewildered majority of a transitorily ill homeland”[100]. Thus, Salazar argued that it would be up to the elites “to lead men without them noticing”[101], worrying mainly about the formation of the elites since they would know how to “control and lead” the people and could guarantee the “stability and durability of the regime”, organizing the “consensus and the compliance”[102].
Thus, the role of António Ferro and the SPN was preponderant, articulating a “multiform propaganda apparatus in a vast and politico-bureaucratic complex of authoritarian ideological dissemination and inculcation”[103].
In this book, Rosas presents five major factors in the long duration of the Estado Novo: 1) violence (both preventive and punitive); 2) the political control of the Armed Forces from 1937/1938 onwards; 3) the political and ideological complicity of the Catholic Church; 4) corporate organisation; 5) the totalitarian investment in Salazar's “new man”[104]. In fact, this last point is what interests this research. The Estado Novo strategically sought to “change the mentality and character of the Portuguese”, correcting their ‘flaws’, “moulding them and their souls in accordance with the ideological values of the ‘new order’”[105]. This totalitarian project, accepted without complexes, “passed to the acts, through the creation of a vast bureaucratic set of organisms of general ideological enunciation and of complementary apparatuses of authoritarian and univocal inculcation of those values at all levels of daily sociability, from the family to the workplace, passing through school and leisure”[106].
The Estado Novo policies, based on a mythical idea of nation and for the sake of the “national interest”, sought to “rescue the souls” of the Portuguese people[107]. This search was carried out with the intention of integrating the Portuguese and educating them politically, from the directives of state institutions of ideological orientation, in accordance with the ideas proffered by the regime’s propaganda[108]. In “similarity to other fascist and fascistic regimes in Europe”, the Estado Novo sought to execute “from state agencies specially created for this purpose, a totalitarian project of re-education of the ‘spirits’, of the creation of a new type of Portuguese and of Portuguese, regenerated by the genuinely national ideology that the regime considered itself to carry” [109]. This ideological discourse of propaganda of the regime, “clear, aggressive, grounding a ‘new order’”[110], was fixed from the mid-1930s and proceeded to a “purifying and self-legitimising revision of historical memory” and to the “fabrication of an integrating and unifying concept of ‘popular culture’, with a national-ethnographic root”[111].
Rosas also introduces seven fundamental ideological myths that were the basis of the discourse of the Salazar regime. First, the palingenetic myth, the myth of the “Portuguese Renaissance”, which sought to discontinue the “national decadence” that, in the regime’s analysis, was due to the “more than one hundred years of monarchic liberalism and its republicanist paroxysm”[112]. Secondly, the new nationalism, based on the “myth of the ontological essence of the regime”, in which the Estado Novo sought to resume the “true and genuine course of the homeland’s history” [113]. The third is the imperial myth by arguing that it would be “of the organic essence of the Portuguese Nation to perform the historical function of possessing and colonizing overseas domains and civilizing indigenous populations”[114].
Through the fourth myth, the myth of rurality, Portugal should be a rural country, having the “traditional rurality” as a specific characteristic and virtue that would be the basis of the true qualities of the “race” [115]. Thus, according to Salazar, the Portuguese people should not let themselves be obsessed by the “mirage of indefinite enrichment” but rather to a healthy, modest life, never letting “agriculture yield to industry”[116]. The fifth myth, the myth of honourable poverty, is related to the previous one. The country should be “unavoidably poor because of its rural destiny”[117]. The myth of the organic and corporate essentiality of the nation, the sixth myth presented by Rosas, represents the “natural order of things”, following the existing hierarchy of classes and powers[118]. Finally, the seventh myth was the myth of the Catholic essence of national identity[119].
As a result of propaganda, the renewed being, reintegrated in the “spirit of the Nation”, should fear God, respect the “established order and the social and political hierarchies as a consequence of the natural and immutable organicism of societies” and be ready to “serve the fatherland and the empire”, fulfilling “his duties in the family and at work”, far from “unhealthy” and “unnatural ambitions”, being satisfied with his “honourable modesty”[120]. Thus, the “real people”, in Ferro’s words, participated in the mythical recreation of essential rurality, in the “corporative national-ruralism which reinvented music, dances, ‘folklore’, habits, customs, behaviours, in accordance with the spirit of an ethnography made to measure”[121].
In order to achieve the desired identity for the people, the regime invested in training the masses, educating them morally and spiritually, following the “values of a ‘popular culture’, national-ruralist, ethnographic and corporative”, disseminated by the Fundação Nacional para Alegria no Trabalho and Junta Central das Casas do Povo[122].
Along with this, the SPN made massive use of propaganda vehicles such as cinema, radio and posters, literary prizes and the “people’s theatre”, as well as reinventing ethnography, popular culture and creating “popular festivals”, “historical parades”, in order to complete a “spiritual reform of the individual in society”[123].
As we can see, the history of the Estado Novo, its importance and its durability are reinforced by different myths created by the regime. One such example is the presentation of Salazar, through the interviews that Ferro addressed to him, where the dictator is presented as “a lonely man, above intrigue and political combinations, without allies or alliances, who only accepts, contrarily, to come out of his splendid isolation to save the homeland”[124].
Saudade
estimated read time: 2 minutes
One of the most commonly attributed elements to Portuguese culture and identity is ‘saudade’. ‘Saudade’ has been consciously present in Portuguese culture since at least the 15th century. The first reference we find is written in the book ‘Leal Conselheiro’ (c.1438), written by King D. Duarte. Here, D. Duarte mentions the “conceptual strangeness of the word 'saudade' and its untranslatability into foreign languages”[125].
Perhaps the characteristic that can make this word unique is the fact that it has multiple meanings, thus making it difficult to translate exactly. We feel “saudade” about home, about family members, about food, about our country, about some moment in the past[126]. “Saudade” is closely linked to the perception of the past, with an emotional burden more active than the present and the future, evoking a set of moments we have lived, objects we have had or people we have lost. This term is born, therefore, from a contrast between two representations of reality: a devalued present with an uncertain future, and a singular affective, intimate, subjective, personal past, with a certain person, moment, object or even ambience[127].
Contrary to what is regularly assumed, this is not a unique characteristic of the Portuguese. Despite all the historical relevance and the various meanings that the word can have, there is certainly the same feeling in other languages. In Galician we find the word “morriña”, which can be translated as “homesickness”, in Castilian we find “añoranza”, which also seems to have the same meaning of “saudade”, as well as “homesick”, in English[128], in the same way that Romanian “dor” can also have the same meaning[129]. Saudade is a feeling that can be experienced by all men, although it has taken on a metaphysical character “not present in the mentality of other peoples”. Precisely because it is a universal feeling, felt by anyone in the world, “saudade” can take different forms: sadness, nostalgia, melancholy, contemplative solitude”[130]. What might be factual is the existence of a single word to describe it, as well as the cultural burden passed on over the past centuries - and its social and cultural acceptance of pain and the feeling of absence. Perhaps the great difference in the perception of “saudade” is due, above all, to the mythological and artistic role built up over all these centuries.
The search for the other - “leaving the motherland”
estimated read time: 2 minutes
Another of the traits I find in the Portuguese identity that makes the Portuguese proud is the image of openness to the other, combined with the belief that the Portuguese were not racist during the expansion of the territory and the consequent colonisation of the land. This idea is, like so many others in Portuguese culture, also a construction (or elaboration) of the Estado Novo. This is contested after the publication of the book Race Relations in the Portuguese Colonial Empire, 1415-1825, by Charles R. Boxer (1963). A. M. Hespanha states that this book “was banned in Portugal and fiercely attacked by the most traditional political circles”[131]. Only after the “Revolução dos Cravos” in 1974 could the theme of “humanism” and “fraternalism” be discussed more openly.
Perhaps it is part of our identity to “leave the motherland” and, despite having “little land to be born on”, to have “a whole world to die on”[132]. This identity was given to us - or transmitted to us - through the myths and stories of history. We were educated, both by philosophy and by the social and economic problems that we will have to live through in the world, being part of our ‘Portuguese soul’ the emigration and the search for a better world.
The fact of having reached other continents, thus creating a pluricontinental kingdom, brought Portugal new ways of being in society and in the world. One of the most important factors was indeed emigration, a reality which still persists - now in another form - but which is crucial for a perception of Portuguese culture (way of being). In the second half of the 20th century, the Portuguese left the country in search of better solutions for their lives, mainly to two destinations: Central Europe (France, Germany, Luxembourg) and South America (Venezuela and Brazil). This migratory phenomenon was carried out by people, most of whom were less educated, who decided to leave the country, either because they could not find work in Portugal, or because they were looking for better solutions for their lives, or even as a reaction to the political situation in force (exile, escape). As Eduardo Lourenço explains, this exodus in the 20th century is above all the result of the “secular pressure of a homeland indigence to be compensated, or by a flagrant will to access at the expense of others a better life”[133]. Decades have now passed and we can say that these migrants are generally happy in the countries where they live, to the point that, in many cases, they only want to return to Portugal at the end of their lives.
In the last 20 years, the migratory phenomenon has been different, leading part of the young and educated population to seek job offers in countries like the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, among others. Due to the mode of living, the distant that becomes near thanks to technologies, the Portuguese feel at home all over the world. Always in search of better living conditions that are slow to arrive in Portugal.
Portugal nowadays
estimated read time: 6 minutes
The representation of contemporary Portuguese identity remains intensely linked to the country’s past[134]. The transition between the dictatorship of the Estado Novo and democracy was made, in some respects, smoothly and progressively, without a break with history. There was no attempt to create another country from scratch. And, perhaps because of this, we continue to observe the anthropological and cultural complexes presented above. Little by little, the past is being re-examined, perceived in consciousness from a more “demanding and critical, realistic perspective, which should have been the natural complement of a liberating revolution”[135].
Portugal has changed in relation to its identity, being now more present in European life; it has changed in cultural, technological and social terms. It has changed because it is proudly in company - and not, as represented in Salazar's famous phrase “proudly alone”. It is true that these transformations are also greatly influenced by globalisation, with all the technological and cultural changes worldwide.
Portugal has lived for centuries under an unrealistic image of itself, and so it is still necessary to have a moment of cultural, economic, sociological, intellectual and artistic self-evaluation, which will lead us to understand the country's real problems, making readjustments and seeking solutions[136]. It is necessary to take a critical look at what we were, are and want to be, aware of the possibilities of the present and the future, correcting the basic problems that the country still has today. To do so, it will be important to accept what is real and use the imagination of a people (or of some individuals represented in it) so that Portugal, together with its partners and allies (Europe, PALOP, for example), may give more quality of life to those who live there, together with hope for the future.
Perhaps because of this slow transformation of the country and the state, which we can observe when analysing current national politics, the ideas that ‘April’ (resulting from the 1974 revolution in Portugal) brought cannot be taken for granted or 'stable'. Once the revolution had passed, an attempt was made to impose a new image of Portugal, opposed to the image defended under the dictatorial regime (but with the same national unity goal), of an exemplary revolutionary country, with a democratic vision, where the fifty years of dictatorship were considered a “regrettable parenthesis”[137].
In this way, Portugal, in moving from a totalitarian to a democratic system, would almost instantly see itself as part of Europe and of a democratic world, with a clear approach to European development at various social levels (education, culture, freedom of expression, free elections). In recent years Portugal has achieved massive schooling, seen electricity, water and sewage services reach almost the whole country, created a national health system that is universal and tends to be free of charge, and a universal system of retirement pensions[138]. Today, with the country included in western globalisation, a Portuguese person living in any of the country's large cities can “have the whole world inside them”, being able to eat any exotic fruit they like, have access to the same works of art found in other western countries, and have quality schools and hospitals[139]. Furthermore, the cosmopolitan Portuguese sees the planet with the eyes "of the whole world", being aware of events in other parts of the world[140]. It may even seem a small achievement. It may seem that the entire Western world lives like this. But the truth is that this reality has only reached the Portuguese in recent decades.
The new generation, “fully European in its customs”, both positively and negatively, “consciously assumes the face of a new urban and cosmopolitan Portugal, ethically relativist, in total rupture with the old Portugal, eminently rural and religious, ethically absolutist”[141]. It is necessary for Portuguese culture - or for the Portuguese and those who live in Portugal - to be aware of its real value. Only in this way can Portugal grow culturally, correcting its problems. Little by little, Portugal has been achieving what for decades “always seemed to be somewhere else, in Paris, in London, in New York that we were not, nor could be”[142]. The existing cultural and technological gap has been gradually reduced, thanks to the work and willpower put in during these last decades of democracy and openness to globalisation in Portugal.
In the first decades of the 21st century, it seems clear that Portugal will - or must - develop three cultural aspects in the future[143]. The first shall be the continuation and development of European integration. The second is a cultural development with the countries where Portuguese is an official language (Lusophony). The third aspect is the continuous integration and development in the digital globalisation through information and communication sciences. Regarding the first cultural aspect, we can say that an old political dream has finally been fulfilled, at least since Marquês de Pombal. In relation to the second aspect, there is, in a way, a continuity to the (imperial) historical past, now in cooperation with a group of countries and not as a power that dominates the action, seeking a transcontinental integration. Finally, the third aspect - digital globalisation - encompasses cyber-democracy, the deepening and transparency of relations between citizens and between citizens and social institutions through electronic communication. More than a fact of the present, this will above all be a project for the future, more open and, it is hoped, more tolerant.
The modernisation that Portugal underwent from 1980 onwards owes much to the rapprochement to Europe and brought about a complete change in the country's fundamental institutions, helping to abandon the rural and bucolic face, laden with poverty. These changes occurred in the very political structure of the state (with a system of parliamentary democratic representation, as mentioned), in the productive sectors of the economy (focusing on computerisation and tourism), in commercial strategy (looking towards European markets, the transatlantic axis and the PALOPs), and in habits (with a secularisation of habits, slowly abandoning the link to the Church and the predominance of the classic family)[144].
Portugal has today the opportunity to overcome the problems - or as Guilherme d'Oliveira Martins put it, the “traumas” - of the past[145]. By integrating Europe, Portugal can overcome the historical traumas, rationalising social and state structures, integrating 'thought and action' in a complex, multi-dimensional project ultimately characterised by openness to the ‘other’. To this end, Portugal will have to question its historical identity, strengthening alliances with the 'other' (Europe, Africa, Brazil), so that civil society does not depend only on the state. One way for Portugal to achieve these ties is to use its status as a ‘semi-peripheral’ country, creating bridges with these “others” in order to initiate and solidify its collective destiny.
In addition to consolidating itself in Europe, Portugal’s political vision must also be to build a bridge between this continent and the countries that continue to use its language. The aim should be to cooperate, not with a paternalistic and domineering aim, but by developing a more united, fair and collaborative world. One of the paths to this will be Lusophony, a "geographic-historical and cultural field encompassing all nations, countries, peoples and communities speaking the Portuguese language or a dialect directly derived from it”[146]. Lusophony, an ideology of Portuguese culture influenced by the fall of the Empire and the search for a historical link with the former colonies, appears in the 20th century. This theory has been increasingly defended by different institutional organisations of the Portuguese society, although in the 1980s it was accused of being “neo-colonialist”[147]. “Lusofonia” is thus essentially a cultural project.
On a national level, Portugal continues to be an extremely diverse country, both in terms of geography and landscape and in terms of culture. In political terms, until a few years ago, and after the April revolution, Portugal was considered to be leftist in the south and conservative in the north. On the other hand, also in religious terms we find differences in the country: there is, in the north, a greater Catholic practice and a greater influence of the Church than in the south. According to J. M. Sobral, the reason for this difference seems to be the “manner of occupation of the conquered territory”[148]. In political terms, and except for a few minor cases in the Azores and Madeira, the Portuguese State has never seen its power challenged by regional diversity[149].
Finally, Miguel Real presents in “Introdução à Cultura Portuguesa” (2011), what he considers to be the five great sins of national culture[150]: 1) the most conservative centralism, “generating psychic symptoms of strong need for dependence on the State”; 2) a Church “more ignorantly fanaticised, confusing devotion with superstition”; 3) deeper economic and prejudiced unevenness between classes and social groups, condemning to a historical divorce the relationship between the elites and the population”; 4) “The most mentally decapitated university”; 5) The rudest, most ignorant and credulous people. Whilst it is true that these ‘sins’ can be analysed in much of the history of Portuguese culture, it is also true that Portugal, after 25 April 1974 (but more significantly in the last 20 years), began to free itself of these ‘sins’, thus assuming the “open relativistic, critical, sceptical, egalitarian, decentralising, secular, cosmopolitan and cultured spirit typical of the history of Central Europe”[151].
[73] Deputter and Pinto Ribeiro, Contributo Para Uma Cartografia Da Dança Contemporânea Em Portugal : Documento Dez Mais Dez / Projecto Dez Mais Dez, 37.
[17] This was one of the most interesting books I read during the research. I looked for different readings about the same historical periods and cultural contexts, but I didn't find other books that were so captivating and pertinent to this cultural-historical analysis. This book helped me to understand in a clearer way the readings about the history of Portugal and, consequently, helped me to understand my identity better. This part of the text was fundamental for what is written here (LINK)