A not so common idea

Abstract

This article focuses on autobiographies of Portuguese emigrants in the USA published outside the literary circuits (A different and longer version of this analysis will be published by The Journal of Lusophone Studies in October 2016). The analysis draws from material collected during fieldwork in New Jersey, where a surprising number of migrant’s written self-portraits were found. The paper examines such works as an expression of self and social (biopolitical) empowerment in contrast with the established negative image associated to the figure of the Portuguese emigrant. The four considered authors emigrated in different periods of the 20th Century marked by continuous Portuguese emigration flows. Escaping misery, poverty, the colonial war, or lack of perspectives, these e/immigrants were improbable authors from the outset, yet, motivated writers of their memories and life experiences. The analysis highlights the heuristic value and social relevance of such autobiographies both in their socio-anthropological meaning, and as historical portraits of Portugal and the Portuguese emigration.
 [Project funded by the Fulbright Commission/Camões Institute and hosted by the Department of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies, Brown University, and the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, Rutgers University, under the 2013 Fulbright Program for PhD researchers and professors].