O Estado Novo, a cunhagem da palavra 'portugalidade' e as tentativas da sua reabilitação na atualidade

Abstract

The coining of the word 'Portugality' ['portugalidade'] is identified as having taken place between the 50 and 60 decades of the twentieth century, being a 'Estado Novo' (dictatorship period, between 1928-1974) product. That dynamic was underlined after the repeal, in 1951, of the 'Colonial Act', where the colonies would be called as overseas provinces and the slogan "Portugal form Minho to Timor" was disseminated, to combat the independence movements that emerged, defending that territories belonged to Portugal. It was in 1947, with the publication of the booklet In Defense of Portugality [Portugalidade], wroten by Alfredo Pimenta, that for the first time, someone studied specifically the 'portugality' ['portugalidade], discussing its meaning and typifying the concept. After a hiatus in its use, following the 'Carnation Revolution' (April, 1974), in which there was a distance from certain subjects that were characteristic of the Estado Novo, the term is being reintroduced into the lexicon, but it does not escape to the Luso-Tropicalist ideology in which it was forged (Ferronha, 1969), causing several misunderstandings.