Project in the Historicising Contemporary Racial Inequalities theme within the Politics of Inequality research programme
The study of internationalism from the 1920s-1960s often centres Europe, with ideas and action beginning in Europe (the metropole) and then inspiring movements in the colonies (peripheries). This research project aims to challenge this assumption by examining how internationalism during the 1920-1960s moved multi-directionally between colonial peripheries and imperial metropoles rather than uni-directionally from Europe to the colonies. Specifically, this research project aims to examine the life and activism of Inôcencio da Câmara Pires (1898-1966), an Angolan anarchist who participated in anarchist, anti-fascist, and anti-colonial movements in Angola, Brazil, France, Portugal and Spain. By examining his journey as a revolutionary across multiple geographies, the project offers a broader understanding of the role African revolutionaries played in the movement of activities globally. It also offers an opportunity to (re)consider what global transnational solidarity looks like in practice.
This research matters because it contributes to decolonising the history of internationalism by 1) centring the role of Câmara Pires, an African revolutionary in European and Latin American leftist movements; and 2) linking early leftist movements in Europe (1920-1930s) to anti-colonial movements in Africa (1960s) by centring African bodies that were present in both eras. This study offers a glimpse into what Su Lin Lewis calls internationalism’s ‘multi-centred history’, and, by doing so, it can offer a fuller, more pluriversal understanding of the concept of ‘internationalism’. In re-examining this history, this pluriversal views also offers an opportunity to imagine what internationalism and global solidarity look like for the contemporary era as leftist movements look to again counter rising far-right governments.
Lead investigator and co-ordinator:
Dr Sara Camacho Felix
Programme Lead