Mantenhas para quem luta! Evoking the liberation struggle in postcolonial Guinea-Bissau

Abstract

This chapter identifies the ways in which the idea of the “liberation struggle” has become an operative concept, weaving renewed networks of meaning around this and other moments in Guinea-Bissau's (post)colonial journey. Although still haunted by certain spectres from the war, the liberation struggle essentially refers to a space and time of promises to be redeemed and remains a relevant mnemonic subject that is mobilised in different historical contexts and for different political purposes. This chapter demonstrates how the experience of the struggle has been established as a significant memory with a critical and redemptive function, which Guinea-Bissau returns to repeatedly to define possibilities for a more just present and future.