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Amílcar Cabral: The Life of a Reluctant Nationalist
On 20 January 1973, the Bissau-Guinean revolutionary Amílcar Cabral was killed by militants from his own party. Cabral had founded the PAIGC in 1960 to fight for the liberation of Portuguese Guinea and Cape Verde. The insurgents were Bissau-Guineans, aiming to get rid of the Cape Verdeans who dominated the party elite.
Despite Cabral’s assassination, Portuguese Guinea became the independent Republic of Guinea-Bissau. The guerrilla war that Cabral had started and led precipitated a chain of events that would lead to the 1974 Carnation Revolution in Lisbon, toppling the forty-year-old authoritarian regime. This paved the way for the rest of Portugal’s African colonies to achieve independence.
Written by a native of Angola, this biography narrates Cabral’s revolutionary trajectory, from his early life in Portuguese Guinea to his death at the hands of his own men. It details his quest for national sovereignty, beleaguered by the ethnic-based identity conflicts the national liberation movement struggled to overcome. Through the life of Cabral, António Tomás critically reflects on existing ways of thinking and writing about the independence of Lusophone Africa.
António Tomás is a senior lecturer at the University of Cape Town (South Africa). He holds a PhD in Anthropology from Columbia University, in New York. He has worked as a journalist in Angola and Portugal and has written extensively on issues related to Lusophone Africa.
Despite Cabral’s assassination, Portuguese Guinea became the independent Republic of Guinea-Bissau. The guerrilla war that Cabral had started and led precipitated a chain of events that would lead to the 1974 Carnation Revolution in Lisbon, toppling the forty-year-old authoritarian regime. This paved the way for the rest of Portugal’s African colonies to achieve independence.
Written by a native of Angola, this biography narrates Cabral’s revolutionary trajectory, from his early life in Portuguese Guinea to his death at the hands of his own men. It details his quest for national sovereignty, beleaguered by the ethnic-based identity conflicts the national liberation movement struggled to overcome. Through the life of Cabral, António Tomás critically reflects on existing ways of thinking and writing about the independence of Lusophone Africa.
António Tomás is a senior lecturer at the University of Cape Town (South Africa). He holds a PhD in Anthropology from Columbia University, in New York. He has worked as a journalist in Angola and Portugal and has written extensively on issues related to Lusophone Africa.
272 pages, Paperback
Published August 29, 2019
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About the author
António Tomás
9 books10 followersANTÓNIO TOMÁS nasceu em Luanda, em 1973. É jornalista e antropólogo e colabora frequentemente em vários órgãos da imprensa angolana, como o «Jornal de Angola» e o «Angolense».
Começou a sua carreira de jornalista na Rádio Nacional de Angola, em 1991, e na Agência Angola Press, em 1992. Mais tarde, a residir em Lisboa, escreveu para vários periódicos, entre os quais o jornal «Público», onde assinou recensões críticas sobre literatura africana.
Membro fundador do Grupo de Teatro Museu do Pau Preto, foi autor e co-autor de peças representadas em Portugal e no estrangeiro, nomeadamente «Museu do Pau Preto» e «Cabral».
Actualmente, divide as suas tarefas profissionais entre Luanda, Lisboa e Nova Iorque, onde se doutorou em antropologia na Universidade de Columbia sob o tema: «Os efeitos da dolarização no nível de vida das populações em Angola».
A obra «O Fazedor de Utopias - uma biografia de Amílcar Cabral» foi publicada em Cabo Verde pela Editora Spleen.
Começou a sua carreira de jornalista na Rádio Nacional de Angola, em 1991, e na Agência Angola Press, em 1992. Mais tarde, a residir em Lisboa, escreveu para vários periódicos, entre os quais o jornal «Público», onde assinou recensões críticas sobre literatura africana.
Membro fundador do Grupo de Teatro Museu do Pau Preto, foi autor e co-autor de peças representadas em Portugal e no estrangeiro, nomeadamente «Museu do Pau Preto» e «Cabral».
Actualmente, divide as suas tarefas profissionais entre Luanda, Lisboa e Nova Iorque, onde se doutorou em antropologia na Universidade de Columbia sob o tema: «Os efeitos da dolarização no nível de vida das populações em Angola».
A obra «O Fazedor de Utopias - uma biografia de Amílcar Cabral» foi publicada em Cabo Verde pela Editora Spleen.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 6, 2023
revolutions are messy and cultural difference caused by difference in colonisation tactics and other materialist factors.
Sometimes we think that humans are very alike, until we arent.
Sometimes we think that humans are very alike, until we arent.
November 11, 2022
I did my undergraduate thesis on the MPLA and its role in the Angolan War of Independence from Portugal and its participation in a protracted civil war in which it ultimately came out the victor. So I had a general understanding of the outlines of the disintegration of Portugal's colonial empire. I knew about the PAIGC, but not in depth.
It was only in reading this in 2020 (https://www.historyextra.com/magazine...), that I came across Amilcar Cabral for the first time, and was shocked that he was as high as 2nd place and I'd never heard of him, so I sought to learn more about this revolutionary leader that was an enigma for me.
After reading this biography, I'm not sure if he warrants the pedestal that he has been put on in that list, but I'll leave that to the professional historians. However, I am left wondering where Guinea-Bissau and Cabo Verde would be if he had lived to be at the helm in its incipient stages. We tend to romanticize the likes of the Sankaras and Cabrals because they died before their visions were realized. But so much of that revolutionary generation disappointed as the years unfolded: the champions of the oppressed became the oppressors. I know few transmogrifications that are as jarring as the independence leader-cum-tyrant (Museveni, Mugabe, etc.)
I think he made a fateful mistake linking the two country's independence movements together, I still don't understand why that occurred, strategically and geographically it seemed like a clunky fit. But also sociopolitical, given the history of Cape Verdeans in Guinea-Bissau it's clear to me that Cabral, although apparently a serious thinker had his blindspots and the pollyannaish sociological lens through which he saw the people he was trying to liberate which ultimately led to his undoing.
It was only in reading this in 2020 (https://www.historyextra.com/magazine...), that I came across Amilcar Cabral for the first time, and was shocked that he was as high as 2nd place and I'd never heard of him, so I sought to learn more about this revolutionary leader that was an enigma for me.
After reading this biography, I'm not sure if he warrants the pedestal that he has been put on in that list, but I'll leave that to the professional historians. However, I am left wondering where Guinea-Bissau and Cabo Verde would be if he had lived to be at the helm in its incipient stages. We tend to romanticize the likes of the Sankaras and Cabrals because they died before their visions were realized. But so much of that revolutionary generation disappointed as the years unfolded: the champions of the oppressed became the oppressors. I know few transmogrifications that are as jarring as the independence leader-cum-tyrant (Museveni, Mugabe, etc.)
I think he made a fateful mistake linking the two country's independence movements together, I still don't understand why that occurred, strategically and geographically it seemed like a clunky fit. But also sociopolitical, given the history of Cape Verdeans in Guinea-Bissau it's clear to me that Cabral, although apparently a serious thinker had his blindspots and the pollyannaish sociological lens through which he saw the people he was trying to liberate which ultimately led to his undoing.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews