CALL FOR PAPERS
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
February 25–26, 2027, Porto (FLUP)

On February 3, 1927, just nine months after May 28, 1926, the first major revolt against the military dictatorship in Portugal broke out in Porto. Military units and civilian sectors mobilised in the city, with support from some northern garrisons, in an attempt to overthrow the new regime and restore constitutional republican rule. The rebellion was joined in Lisbon on the 7th, as Porto was capitulating, and in other locations, but was defeated after intense fighting and severe repression, which consolidated the regime and marked its political evolution. The February Uprising took on a character that was both military and popular and inaugurated a cycle of insurrectionary initiatives, typically associated with the concept of reviralhismo.

Affected by arrests, deportations, exiles, and forced underground activity, in an environment of increasing control and surveillance, the opposition movement saw the possibilities and limits of its action profoundly constrained, experimenting with various forms of survival and reorganisation both within and outside the country, devising strategies for resistance networks within informal groups across the most diverse sectors of national life, and seeking international support.

The study of this early resistance to the dictatorship continues to raise new historiographical questions and draw on new sources (recently opened institutional archives and private archives); therefore, it is important not only to revisit the February Uprising on the occasion of its centennial but also to rethink the subject within a broader chronology and a wider framework for analysing resistance to the Military Dictatorship and the Estado Novo.

Similarly, it is worthwhile to foster a transnational and broad reflection on the broader theme of resistance to dictatorships in the context of the “short 20th century.” The comparative study of resistance movements allows us to understand similarities and specificities across different authoritarian contexts. The analysis of circulations, influences, and transfers among opposition movements – in the European, Atlantic, and global spheres – opens new possibilities for research on the transnational history of the struggle against dictatorships.

The cultural and symbolic dimensions of resistance have also taken centre stage in recent studies. Literature, the cultural press, the visual arts, theatre, music, and education, among others, have served as key spaces for protest, the preservation of alternative memories, and the construction of political identities. These forms of cultural resistance have helped maintain democratic horizons amid prolonged repression and have played a crucial role in political transitions.

Building on the 1927 Uprising, this conference aims to bring together national and international researchers to discuss resistance to dictatorships, promoting comparative and interdisciplinary approaches and fostering transnational dialogue between history (in the political, social, and cultural spheres) and political science, historical sociology, and military and memory studies.

Thematic Areas

1. The 1927 Uprising: actors, contexts, and repercussions
2. Agency and cultures of resistance – expanding the theoretical, documentary, and methodological framework
3. Clandestinity, political exile, transnational and overseas networks
4. Strategies and individuals (civilians, military, women) – life trajectories
5. Periodicals and public opinion
6. Memories, narratives, and uses of the past
7. Cultural resistance and the symbolic dimension: Arts, Thought, Historiography, and Science
8. International comparisons and the global history of resistance

Venue: Faculty of Arts, University of Porto

Organisers: CITCEM/FLUP (Centre for Transdisciplinary Research on Culture, Space, and Memory)

Date: February 25 and 26, 2027

Registration: €50; Students: €25

Presentations: Portuguese, English, Spanish

Deadlines:

Paper proposals must be submitted by October 5, 2026 to congress.resistences.2027@gmail.com and must include:

• Paper title
• Abstract (up to 300 words)
• 3 keywords
• Brief biographical note (up to 150 words)
• Institutional affiliation and contact information

Notification of acceptance by: October 30, 2026

Registration by: November 20, 2026

Organising Comittee:

Conceição Meireles Pereira

Sérgio Neto

Bruno Madeira

Daniel Soares Silva

Miguel Castro Brandão