Anthropologists in “Portuguese Africa”: The History of a Secret Mission

From 1956 to 1957, Marvin Harris, professor at the University of Columbia visited Mozambique to carry out fieldwork on the exploitation of the African labor force in that “Overseas Province”. Due to his criticisms of the regime, Marvin Harris was declared persona non grata by the colonial authorities and had to abandon Mozambique. In 1960, in an attempt to reverse the negative impression that Harris had left, the Portuguese anthropologist Jorge Dias invited Charles Wagley – at that time a confirmed “Brazilianist” – to make a journey throughout the “Overseas Provinces” of Mozambique, Angola and Guinea-Bissau. Throughout that journey, Jorge Dias attempted to show Charles Wagley the daily reality of a “racial harmony” supposedly without conflict in the “Overseas Provinces”. The journey was supported by the Portuguese Overseas Minister, Adriano Moreira, and was part of an attempt to promote academic exchange between the Instituto Superior de EstudosUltramarinos (ISEU) of Lisbon and the University of Columbia. This article explores the political and academic consequences of that “confidential” journey performed on the eve of the struggle against colonialism in Portuguese Africa