Imperial Taboos: Salazarist Censorship in the Portuguese Colonies

Abstract

Censorship under the Salazar dictatorship was conceived as a structural element of the imperial state, enjoying full territorial coverage. Chapter 9 discusses the thesis of the efficient use of censorship by the Salazarist state apparatus, as a rational way of ensuring the best cost-benefit relationship and awarding it a central place in the process of colonial domination. The chapter offers a problematised synthesis of censorship in the Portuguese colonies from two important angles: (1) origins, evolution, content, and political and sociocultural impact; (2) articulation with other instruments: propaganda, police repression, business penalisation and bribery. The chapter contributes to a more complex portrait of the Portuguese public sphere in an imperial and dictatorial context.

I would like to express my thanks to Vanessa Boutefou for her careful translation of my text.