Postmemory as a form of civic courage. Watchword: resist, resist, resist

Abstract

This paper aims to claim the duty of postmemory, in order to think better about the loneliness of memory and to explicit the value of the documentary, as the space and time for a reflection able to welcome and embody those absences that the studies on coloniality and postcoloniality in Portuguese were still not able to satisfy. Taking the challenge posed by the thematic dossier on “Colonial imaginaries: propaganda, militancy and ‘resistance’ in cinema”, this essay intends to resist these lonelinesses and absences, moving from two documentaries – A hospitalidade ao fantasma: Memórias dos deficientes das forças armadas (2014), by Bruno Sena Martins, and Portugal híbrido, Portugal europeu: Gentes do ‘sul’ mesmo aqui ao lado (2011), by the author of this paper.