Abstract
This chapter explores how language was used in the racial construction of differences and equalities in colonial and post-independent contexts by analyzing the meanings attributed to Portuguese as a language in the colonial era of Brazil and Angola, two former Portuguese colonies. Brazil and Angola played an important role in Portuguese colonization by both contributing and suffering the effects of the use of categories such as language and race as strategy of control and resistance. The chapter argues and illustrates that the ideas of customs, language, and other cultural markers were signs of “civilization” in Portuguese colonization. The deliberate designing of the overlapping categories of language and Portuguese social customs has produced ethnic, social, and political differentiations whose legacy is still apparent in pernicious ways.
Original language | English (US) |
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Title of host publication | The Oxford Handbook of Language and Race |
Publisher | Oxford University Press |
Pages | 153-166 |
Number of pages | 14 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9780190845995 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 1 2020 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- General Arts and Humanities
- General Social Sciences