Dr Carla Baptista - Imagining Democracy in Television: Portugal 1974-1976

IAS Residential Fellow Dr Carla Maria dos Santos Filipe Baptista delivers a seminar on their research -

The seminar presents the regime of televisuality following the military coup of April 25/1974 in Portugal. Our focus is on how the informative programs represented the repressive practices of the past, including forms of intimidation and persecution based on political dissent. By analysing selected excerpts from programs, we seek to map the political project which made RTP (the sole public channel existent in 1974) the key media to shatter the lines of interpretation formerly imposed by the dictatorship. The “coming” of revolutionary television offered new cultural repertoires and protocols for political practice and social interaction. This historical context created a grassroots television in which political actors, activists, artists and journalists activated the popular dimensions of the revolution. We emphasise the collective experience of watching television to understand the role of television in reshaping the notions of national identity, cultural memory and global citizenship.

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#portugal #revolution #television