Abstract
This article examines Júlio Dinis’s 1867 novel, Uma família inglesa: Cenas da vida do Porto as a commentary on imperial relations between Portugal and its imposing British ally in the nineteenth century, specifically as a response to England’s increasing pressures for the abolition of the Portuguese slave trade. A close reading of the text reveals a commentary in line with mid-century Regenerationist discourses urging for Portugal’s adoption of the basic tenets of British colonialism, including the active suppression of the slave trade, as a means of salvaging Portugal’s international reputation and achieving a place among the economically modern and socially progressive imperial nations. More broadly, Uma família inglesa’s appeals for abolition reflect the imperial worldview of the nineteenth-century Portuguese metropolis by which colonial exploitation and its victims were erased from imperial discourses that focused instead on national sovereignty, international prestige, and economic regeneration.
Resumo
Abstract
This article examines Júlio Dinis’s 1867 novel, Uma família inglesa: Cenas da vida do Porto as a commentary on imperial relations between Portugal and its imposing British ally in the nineteenth century, specifically as a response to England’s increasing pressures for the abolition of the Portuguese slave trade. A close reading of the text reveals a commentary in line with mid-century Regenerationist discourses urging for Portugal’s adoption of the basic tenets of British colonialism, including the active suppression of the slave trade, as a means of salvaging Portugal’s international reputation and achieving a place among the economically modern and socially progressive imperial nations. More broadly, Uma família inglesa’s appeals for abolition reflect the imperial worldview of the nineteenth-century Portuguese metropolis by which colonial exploitation and its victims were erased from imperial discourses that focused instead on national sovereignty, international prestige, and economic regeneration.
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