Russell Hamilton: Pioneering Critic of African Literatures in Portuguese

  • Fernando Arenas University of Michigan
  • Ana Paula Ferreira University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

Abstract

Russell Hamilton’s scholarly career coincided with the anti-colonial liberation movements throughout the Portuguese African territories of Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, and São Tomé and Principe, in the 1960s and 70s. During this critical time-period, written literature in the form of poetry, short stories, essays, and novels played a major role among African elites by imagining these newly emerging nations. While denouncing the injustices and ravages of Portuguese colonialism, literary art galvanized readers to the cause of independence.
Published
2016-11-27