New Approaches to Lusophone Culture ed. by Natália Pinazza (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: New Approaches to Lusophone Culture ed. by Natália Pinazza Katia C. Bezerra Natália Pinazza, ed. New Approaches to Lusophone Culture. Amherst, New York: Cambria, 2016. 199p. Composed of an introduction and five chapters, New Approaches to Lusophone Culture creates an intersection of national cultures within the Lusophone world and aims to advance the academic study of Asian Lusophone cultural and filmic production associated with Hollywood, which is often overlooked by critics. This broad geographical scope allows the exploration of various genres. Subject matter reflects the cultural diversity of the Lusophone community while simultaneously situating Portuguese-language cultural production within a global and postcolonial context. As they examine literature and film, the essayists situate texts within their cultural, historical and social context; propose alternative and critical frameworks; identify the current political, economic and socio-cultural impacts of the region’s colonial legacy; and explore the ways that displacement, trauma and memory narratives problematize official discourses. Chapter 1 provides insights into the impact of two historical moments: the end of Estado Novo and the transfer of power over the territory of Macau to China. It studies the connections between late colonial and post-independence regimes and the literary responses to sociopolitical developments and colonial legacies. Gustavo Infante traces recurring historic themes, including domestic social struggles and colonial power. He discusses how literary texts from Goa and Macau reflect upon intricate notions of identity, feelings of treason, and the consequences of the transfer of power over Macau. Carolin Overhoff Ferreira’s chapter focuses on mediated cultural representations of memory in films from Brazil, Guinea-Bissau and Portugal. She discusses Portuguese imperialism and issues of nation building while interconnecting the present and the past. The author advocates revisiting historical and cultural memory as a strategy of empowerment. Drawing upon Henri Bergson’s scholarship on memory and Stuart Hall’s work on identity, the study draws a correlation between memory, cultural legacy and identity construction. In the third chapter, Antônio M. da Silva investigates the cinematic representation of memory and gender in Africa’s postcolonial productions. Informing the discussion is Serge Moscovici’s focus on the multiplicity of collective ideas and Marianne Hirsch and Valerie Smith’s work on gendered memory. Although women had a key role in the war of independence, grand narratives ignore their contributions. The author argues that rewriting history [End Page 333] from their perspective allows women filmmakers to articulate other modes of seeing that reclaim the place of women in the collective memory of the war of independence. Covering a substantial number of films (six), the chapter is more descriptive than analytical. Next, Reinaldo Cardenuto explores documentaries that attempt to reclaim the memory of former guerrillas murdered by the Brazilian military regime. Produced by relatives of the disappeared, these documentaries promote the recovery of biographies and address the trauma faced by family members of disappeared individuals. Although the chapter broaches the issues of representation, memory and trauma, it does not bring any theoretical framework that could support the discussion within a broader context. Chapter 5 examines trends and competing paradigms of science-fiction cinema and the audiovisual industry in Brazil. Alfredo Suppia traces fantasy films in the silent era and comedies in the wake of the talkies as precursors to science-fiction films. The author uses Roberto Schwartz’s notion of misplaced idea as a point of departure to properly historicize and contextualize science-fiction cinema. One example is the use of science fiction by Cinema Novo filmmakers “to perform social and political criticism by means of allegory” during the dictatorship (149). Lastly, the chapter investigates the influence of Hollywood’s costly special effects on Brazilian science-fiction films. In accordance with and in support of previous critiques, the author demonstrates how Brazilian filmmakers’ investment in creativity and innovation allowed them to produce “low-budget science-fiction films, which played a key role in the artistic development of the genre” (167). In my view, this chapter constitutes a valuable addition to the field of Brazilian cinema and culture. New Approaches to Lusophone Culture is an ambitious project with some limitations. Despite the complex nature of the term (post)colonialism, the editor and the contributors provide...