In our next episode from our podcast series (Re-)Shaping Europe, Gil Shohat spoke to Dr Cátia Severino from the University of Lisbon. Cátia joined our programme for the first time in Spring 2021 as a panelist, followed by a workshop-leadership on Portuguese remembrance culture in our last Autumn Seminar. A linguist by training, Cátia has been an active member of “Djass-Association of Afrodescendants” since 2017. The youngest of seven siblings, she was born in Portugal in 1976, the year her family left Angola fleeing the civil war. Her personal experience in the context of so-called “Retornados” (Returned) communities lead her to question the experiences of Afro-descendant communities in Portugal in the context of the post-colonial diaspora as well as the colonial legacy of racism and colourism in the establishment of social and cultural status and the access to Portuguese citizenship. Gil spoke to Cátia about her manifold areas of activity as well as her experience in discussing the complex case of Portuguese colonial history with a non-Portuguese workshop group at DialoguePerspectives.
We hope you enjoy the conversation!
As always, you can listen to this episode via Apple Podcasts, Spotify & Buzzsprout.
Intro: Carleigh Garcia; Speakers: Gil Shohat; Cátia Severino; Audio-Edit: Gal Yaron Mayersohn; Music: Viktor Rosengrün; Project Leadership: Jo Frank, Johanna Korneli; | © 2021 DialoguePerspectives| www.dialogueperspectives.org
˝The programme makes possible something that is all too rare in our society these days: speaking and having discussions across borders, not about each other, but with each other. That can be a hard slog at times, but at the same time the format makes space for follow-up questions and deeper conversations that are only possible through trust on all sides.
Felix, DialoguePerspectives alumnus