An Appeal to Reason. Eduardo Lourenço, the Retornado’s Aporia and the Question of the Colonial Guilt

Abstract

This contribution is constructed as a reflection on Portuguese colonial power and the attribution of colonial guilt that, after decolonization, was attributed to the figure of the “retornado”, the (ex)-colonist. The end of colonialism as a historical phenomenon does not imply the possibility of overcoming old conceptual frameworks inherited by the colonial perspective and, notably, by luso-tropical ideology. Following the sharp perspective of Eduardo Lourenço, who reveals at an early stage the problematic symbolic relationship of power between Portugal, the former Brazilian colony and the Portuguese territories in Africa, an attempt is made to expose some aspects that are still open and linked to the colonial past. In the convulsive years of decolonization, Lourenço’s appeal is a lucid invitation to reason from which critical trails reveal permanence, interpretative risks and possibilities.