“My dear Castro”. Some considerations on intellectuals in the anti-colonial struggle based on the correspondence between Mário Pinto de Andrade and Castro Soromenho

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11606/va.v26.n2.2025.224544

Keywords:

Mário Pinto de Andrade, Castro Soromenho, correspondence, intellectuals, anticolonial struggle

Abstract

In this article I analyze the unpublished correspondence between Angolan intellectual Mário Pinto de Andrade and writer Fernando Monteiro de Castro Soromenho. Through thirty-nine letters written over a period of sixteen years (1954-1970), I reconstruct the collaboration between the two intellectuals in a series of projects aimed at disseminating Angolan literature and culture which, in the context of the liberation struggle, had an undeniable political dimension. At the same time, I consider the material conditions in which Mário Pinto de Andrade and Castro Soromenho developed their work and the commitments they made in the struggle for the independence of Angola.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

  • Elisa Scaraggi, Universidade Nova de Lisboa

    Elisa Scaraggi is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellow at the Institute of Contemporary History at NOVA School of Social Sciences and Humanities in Lisbon. She obtained her PhD in Comparative Studies (2020) at the University of Lisbon, with a fellowship by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT).

    She is interested in how colonialism and coloniality shaped the political, social, and cultural context of nations that emerged from the dissolution of the Portuguese empire, with emphasis on Angola and Brazil. Her research addresses questions regarding the production of art and culture in violent and authoritarian environments, focusing on the entanglement between personal and collective experiences in personal archives, as well as in autobiographies, memoirs, and other pieces of life-writing.

    Her current research focuses on Angolan nationalist Mário Pinto de Andrade’s personal archive as a key to uncover new narratives on Angola’s recent past and the relation between culture and nationalism.

References

ARTIERES, Philippe, Kalifa, Dominique. L’historien et les archives personnelles: Pas à pas, Sociétés & Représentations, v.13, n.1, p.7–15, 2002. doi :10.3917/sr.013.0007. Disponível em : https://shs.cairn.info/revue-societes-et-representations-2002-1-page-7?lang=fr. Acesso em: 14 out. 2025.

BITTENCOURT, Marcelo. A criação do MPLA. Estudos Afro-Asiáticos, v. 32, p. 185–208, 1997.

CASTRO HENRIQUES, Isabel. Colonialismo e história. Working Paper 132. Lisboa: CESA - Centro de Estudos sobre África, Asia e América Latina, 2015. Disponível em: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.5/7815. Acesso em: 14 out. 2025.

CEA, Centro de Estudos Angolanos. História de Angola (Apontamentos). Argel: 1965. Disponível em: https://www.tchiweka.org/documento-textual/0253001003. Acesso em: 14 out. 2025.

CONTEE, Clarence G. The Encyclopedia Africana. Project of W. E. B. Du Bois. African Historical Studies, v.4, n.1, p. 77–91, 1971. doi:10.2307/216269. Disponível em: https://www.jstor.org/stable/216269?origin=crossref. Acesso em: 14 out. 2025.

DIOP, Alioune. Discours d’ouverture. Présence Africaine, v. 8, n.3, p. 9–18, 1956. Disponível em : http://www.jstor.org/stable/24346885. Acesso em: 14 out. 2025.

GOMES, Ângela de Castro. Arquivos pessoais, desafios e encantos. Revista do Arquivo Público Mineiro, p. 22–25, 2009.

LABAN, Michel. Mário Pinto de Andrade. Uma entrevista. Tradução de Maria Alexandre Dáskalos. Lisboa: Edições João Sá da Costa, 1997.

MABEKO-Tali, Jean-Michel. Guerrilhas e lutas sociais. O MPLA perante si próprio (1960-1977). Lisboa: Mercado de Letras, 2019.

MBEMBE, Achille. The Power of the Archive and its Limits. In: HAMILTON, Carolyn et al. Refiguring the Archive, p. 19–26, 2002.

MENSAH, Ayoko. Cinquantenaire du premier Congrès des Écrivains et Artistes Noirs. Africultures, v.68, n.3, p. 207–9, 2006. doi : 10.3917/afcul.068.0207. Disponível em: https://shs.cairn.info/revue-africultures-2006-3-page-207?lang=fr. Acesso em: 14 out. 2025.

MESSIANT, Christine. Sur la première génération du MPLA: 1948-1960. Mário de Andrade, entretiens avec Christine Messiant (1982). Lusotopie, v.6, p. 185–221, 1999.

MOURÃO, Fernando. Roger Bastide e Angola. A Lunda na obra de Castro Soromenho. Afro-Ásia, v.1, p. 141–43, 1976.

MOURÃO, Fernando, Cláudio A. Furtado, e Francisco Valente. Bibliografia sobre Fernando Monteiro de Castro Soromenho. África: Revista do Centro de Estudos Africanos, v. 11, n. 1, p. 165–86, 1988.

NETO, Maria da Conceição. Introdução. In: LARA, Lúcio. Um amplo movimento. Itinerário do MPLA através de documentos de Lúcio Lara. Vol. II (1961-1962). Luanda: Associação Tchiweka de Documentação, 2006.

PROCHASSON, Christophe. “Atenção: Verdade!” Arquivos Privados e Renovação das Práticas Historiográficas, Estudos Históricos, v. 21, p. 105–119, 1998.

ROCHA, Edmundo. Angola. Contribuição ao estudo da génese do nacionalismo moderno angolano (Período de 1950 a 1964) Testemunho e estudo documental. Lisboa: Dinalivro, 2009.

Downloads

Published

2025-12-24

Issue

Vol. 26 No. 2 (2025): Angola - collection, memory, and literature

Section

Dossiê 47: Angola: acervo, memória e literatura

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Elisa Scaraggi

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  • Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  • Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  • Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).

Funding data

How to Cite

SCARAGGI, Elisa. “My dear Castro”. Some considerations on intellectuals in the anti-colonial struggle based on the correspondence between Mário Pinto de Andrade and Castro Soromenho. Via Atlântica, São Paulo, v. 26, n. 2, p. 16, 2025. DOI: 10.11606/va.v26.n2.2025.224544. Disponível em: https://revistas.usp.br/viaatlantica/article/view/224544.. Acesso em: 3 jan. 2026.