Integration of the “retornados” in the Portuguese society: identity, dis-identification, and concealment

Abstract

It is estimated that as a result of decolonization between 500,000 and 800,000 Portuguese settlers left their residence in Africa between 1974 and 1979. For the most part, these people came to Portugal, where they were called “retornados”, a name that acquired a pejorative connotation used to identify a population of colonial migrants, mostly white, suddenly displaced due to the collapse of the Portuguese colonial system. Based on bibliographic and archival sources, as well as data from interviews with this population, this article addresses issues of identity and dis-identification related to the arrival of returnees and their integration into Portuguese society.