Legacy

‘It is time black people have their voice’

As word of the family photo project of the African Diaspora spread last year, Chalo Correia, knew he had to be part of it. Originally from Angola, Correia’s more than three decades of living in Portugal had given him a feeling that he would never fully belong.

The musician saw the exhibition as a way to highlight Lisbon’s large and diverse community of African origin, a community deeply rooted in the country’s colonial history but still seen by many as outsiders. He selected three photos from the 70’s that showed him sitting with friends, a baptism and a family party.

They are part of a collaborative exhibition in Lisbon – on display in the Monument to the Discoveries (Padrão dos Descobrimentos) – offering an alternative to the images of one of Europe’s longest-lived colonial empires.

‘For me, there was need to create a counter-narrative, says Filipa Vicente, historian and researcher at the Institute of Social Science (ICS – ULisboa) to the Guardian. ‘Colonial photography often is a way of dehumanization, revealing people who are often nameless and photographed without consent.’

‘Each of the photographs are chosen by the families themselves’, explains Inocência Mata, professor of Literature, Arts and Cultures at the University of Lisbon, who co-curated the exhibition with Vicente. ‘It is important to show that Black people are not only objects, but also subjects of their history.’

While the family albums are personal– mostly dating back as far as 1975 and reflecting experiences of 35 families who were part of a wave of migration from the country’s former colonies – the footprint of Portugal’s empire is clearly visible. ‘We had such a late and absurd colonialism until the Carnation Revolution of 25 April 1974’, states Vicente. ‘These stories are very much present in our daily lives.’

The location of the exhibition in the Monument to the Discoveries – conceived as a means of glorifying Portugal’s colonial empire – proved controversial. Vicente and Mata, however, saw the opportunity to launch a ‘Trojan horse’, with the exhibition offering a chance to reinterpret one of the country’s most important colonial spaces from within.

The exhibition comes at a time as the country wrestles with the broader question of how to best address its colonial and slave trading past. Earlier this year, Portugal’s president Marcelo de Sousa, told reporters that that the country should ‘pay the costs’ for slavery and other colonial crimes, a suggestion that was immediately shot down by the centre-right coalition government.

Family Albums: Photographs of the African Diaspora in Greater Lisbon (1975 to today) until 30 November.

Enjoy your week         Approveite a semana               (pic Sapo/Luso)


  









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Schooling

‘In Portugal, it is unacceptable to suggest that a child is better off at a special school’

Portugal has transferred almost all children in special education to ‘normal’ schools. In the Netherlands, the number of children in special schools actually increased in recent years. Follow the Money investigated the differences in both countries.

The inclusive approach in Portugal has been enshrined in a number of education laws. In 2008, the government decided to close special schools for primary and secondary education and to place students back into regular education.

With this new legislation, the school no longer needs a medical diagnosis to intervene. The focus now is on needs rather than diagnosis. If a child is acting hyperactive and has difficulty concentrating, he/she can get guidance from a school psychologist without a proper ADHD diagnosis.

Schools draw up an individual support plan for each child with special needs (learning delays, mental or physical problems) and are assisted by physiotherapists, psychologists, speech therapists or special-need teachers. In 2017 the number of pupils with special needs in regular education had doubled and nowadays almost all children with special needs (over 98%) go to regular schools.

Portuguese schools receive a fixed amount per student and can apply for extra money for children with special needs; to pay for psychologists, wheelchair lifts or teaching materials. Inclusive policies are not only aimed at students with special needs or disabilities. Extensive attention is also paid to the backgrounds and cultures of migrant children, who nowadays constitute 15% of the pupils in primary and secondary education.

Despite the many adjustments the schools have to make in the field of education (special-need teachers, therapists) and infrastructure (e.g. wheelchair accessibility), the country spends less on education than the Netherlands. Last year education expenditure in Portugal was exactly at the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) average of 5.1% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), while Dutch spending was 5.4%.

At the same time Portugal showed – according to the OECD – a positive trajectory on the international Pisa research, which compares the scores of 15-year olds in the fields of reading skills, mathematics and sciences.

Overall scores are falling in recent years, a trend that is visible in many countries. Possible explanations are migration, increasing inequality, use of smartphones and the impact of the corona epidemic.

In 2022, Portuguese children scored around the OECD average on all three parts, higher than at the start of Pisa in 2000. In reading skills, the Netherlands has been scoring worse than Portugal for the last five years and in mathematics and sciences, the Netherlands still has a slight advantage but the level drops faster than in Portugal.

The Dutch Education Inspectorate (Onderwijsraad) mentioned Portugal in their State of Education 2024 as an example of a country where inclusion is the norm. The Netherlands itself failed to achieve that goal.
Although the Dutch Appropriate Education Act from 2014 was intended to reduce the number of students in special education, their numbers only continue to increase.


Enjoy the week            Approveite a semana               (pic JAC)

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