Commemoration and Propaganda in Salazar's Portugal: The Mundo Português Exposition of 1940

Abstract

Salazar's Portugal is often represented as a colourless, pale imitation of the fascist dictatorships in other parts of Europe during the 1930s and 1940s. Yet, in its consolidation phase, the regime embraced the concept of the `festival state', and commemorative events and expositions became key ingredients in the attempt to forge a new, highly selective cultural identity for the Portuguese people. The centerpiece of these efforts was the Mundo Português Exposition of 1940, when the symbols of a new hybrid identity grafted the discourse of Empire onto the traditional conservatism of the New State (Estado Novo). This major cultural event served a triple function for the regime's propagandists: in their quest for regime legitimacy, for propagating Salazar's nationalist version of the nation's history, and in shaping the national consciousness of the Portuguese people in order to eliminate the `anti-national'.