Resumen de Out of Sight, Close to the Heart: regionalist Voluntary Associations in the Portuguese Empire
This article focuses on regionalist voluntary associations in the former Portuguese colonies of Angola and Mozambique during the twentieth century, relating them to the issues of social capital and plurality of identity, and linking them to the context of the Portuguese Diaspora.
It studies the contribution made by associations based on regional ties in an imperial and ultranationalist space, and analyzes how that same contribution not only strengthened the social capital in their communities, but also upheld identities, which were less closed and more plural, despite the prevailing action of colonialism. Furthermore, the work of these popular institutions made it possible to enlarge the geographic and social contexts of regionalism, a Western phenomenon that has been re-assessed by scholars over the last few decades.
