About

In 2018, I published Portugal e a Questão do Trabalho Forçado. It was the result of several years of doctoral research, based on primary sources never worked before and on the still quite extensive list of research produced on the subject, both national and international, before and after the Portuguese decolonisation. I would like to highlight two aspects that I draw from this work: on the one hand, the richness of the national archives in demonstrating the acute awareness of several imperial administrators after 1945 of the persistence of various forms of forced labour in the empire and, at the same time, a generalised conviction about the need for compulsion to deal with a worker considered to be essentially different. This is an important point, at a time when archival work tends to be devalued. On the other hand, in exploring the international and transnational dynamics of denunciation and dissent vis-à-vis the empire, we find a long history, signalled, divulged and sustained of accusations about forced labour practices, which, moreover, has defined Portugal's reputation globally. Being aware of this image of Portugal in the world for many decades makes it possible to correct various errors of reading, with the most unusual origins.