Dreaming Together, Fighting for Freedom Together: African Progressive Nationalism and the Ideology of Unity in Portugal’s African Colonies in the 1950s and 1960s

Abstract

This article outlines and studies the ideology of unity binding together progressive liberation movements in the Portuguese colonies in the 1950s and the 1960s. This ideological unity was the result of a process that started in metropolitan universities, where students from different colonies were socialised into emancipatory politics. The article underlines the historical roots of that specific practice of an ideology of unity, and shows how it was both a cultural and an ideologically activist choice, rooted in the elite trajectories of those who would later constitute the leadership of these movements. These multiple encounters and joint socialisation created a strong political bond that would be instrumental in the building of a common nationalist ideological ground for the coming decades.