Atalntic Creoles in Central Africa? The recreation of Central West African Culture in Brazil

17 Maio 2016, 14:00 • José Augusto Nunes da Silva Horta

The theories on the way African contributed to the making of the Cultural  Atlantic World: J. Thornton (and Linda Heywood) “Atlantic Creoles” and its flaws; African religious experiences recreated in Brazil, according to James  H.Sweet. African Christians or "bi-religious"? Portuguese and the acknowledgment of African spirits and African healers. Comparisons within the Atlantic World between Angola, Brazil and the Upper Guinea Coast-Cape Verde.

4. Brazil at the core of the empire (17th-18th centuries).

12 Maio 2016, 14:00 • José Damião Rodrigues

4. Brazil at the core of the empire (17^th-18^th centuries).

The political framework: the governor, the captaincies and the municipalities. The plantation system: sugar, tobacco and slaves. Imperial rivalry in 17^th century Brazil: the French and the Dutch. Sacramento and the southern border. The discovery of gold: the "golden age" of Brazil in the 18^th century. The "crisis" of the Portuguese imperial system?

Bibliography:

BETHELL, Leslie (ed.), Colonial Brazil, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1987;

BOXER, Charles Ralph, The Golden Age of Brazil: Growing Pains of a Colonial Society 1695-1750, Manchester, Carcanet, 1995 [original edition: 1962];

DISNEY, A. R., A History of Portugal and the Portuguese Empire. From Beginnings to 1807, vol. 2: The Portuguese Empire, New York, Cambridge University Press, 2009;

PAQUETTE, Gabriel B., Imperial Portugal in the age of Atlantic revolutions: the Luso-Brazilian world, c. 1770-1850, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2013.

Luso-African identity in Senegambia

5 Maio 2016, 14:00 • José Augusto Nunes da Silva Horta

Luso-African identity in Senegambia, circulation of people and religious ideas and  the making of the Atlantic World

Mandatory readings:

—    Newitt, The Portuguese in West Africa, docs. 19-21

—    Peter Mark, “Portuguese” Style and Luso-African Identity, chap. One, pp. 13-21 and  pp. 21-30

—    Disney, vol. 2 (see the previous lesson)

Strategies of relationship with Ndongo and Mbundu agency. Conquest and trade.

28 Abril 2016, 14:00 • José Augusto Nunes da Silva Horta

Portuguese strategies of relationship with Ndongo. The Mbundu attempt at autonomy from Kongo. Portuguese private traders and the Crown initiative to control trade and the politics of Ndongo. The plan of the creation of a donataria. Portuguese military achievements in Ndongo: Afro-Portuguese alliances, Luso-African role and African resistance: the complex picture of slave trade in Angola.

Kongo, Angola and the slave trade

26 Abril 2016, 14:00 • José Augusto Nunes da Silva Horta

West Central Africa: overview of Portuguese goals and models of relationship. A comparison with the Upper Guinea Coast/Greater Senegambia. The Portuguese and the kingdom of Kongo: encounters with Christianity, alliance and political conflict.

Mandatory readings: