The past and the present (re)visited: war veterans' representations of the Portuguese colonial war

The Portuguese colonial war, which took place between 1961 and 1974, has marked the life of many individuals who were recruited by the Portuguese Armed Forces to fight in Angola, Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau. In the present study, through a classical content analysis of five semi-structured interviews conducted with Portuguese war veterans (nonprofessional and involved in direct armed conflict in Angola between 1965 and 1972), we investigate their representations of the colonial war. More precisely, we analyze their emotional processing of the colonial war, as well as the perceptions these veterans held (at the time of the war) and presently hold about Africans from the former colonies. Furthermore, we also analyze their representations of the process of decolonization of the former Portuguese colonies in Africa, as a function of their past experiences in the war. Finally, we analyze the personal consequences that individuals attribute to their experience of the war in the present day. This study represents a first step in our analysis of war veterans’ representations of the colonial war and our discussion of results also reflects new lines of research for the future.