O femeie portugheză. Între amintirile dictaturii coloniale/fasciste și neliniștea prezentului
A Portuguese Woman: Between the Memories of Colonial–Fascist Dictatorship and the Anxiety of the Present

Author(s): Aurora Rodrigues
Subject(s): History, Literary Texts, Cultural history
Published by: Asociatia Culturala REPLIKA
Keywords: authoritarianism; political repression; anti‑fascist resistance; historical memory; gendered activism;
Summary/Abstract: This chapter presents a first-person testimony of growing up and coming of age under Portugal’s colonial-fascist dictatorship, tracing the formation of political consciousness through lived experience, repression, and resistance. Drawing on personal memory, the author recounts student activism, political persecution, imprisonment, and torture carried out by the political police, situating individual trauma within the broader structures of authoritarian power and colonial violence. The narrative foregrounds women’s participation in anti-fascist resistance and challenges the historical marginalization of their experiences. By linking past repression to contemporary political anxieties, the chapter reflects on memory, impunity, and the fragility of democratic institutions. As both testimony and political intervention, the text contributes to critical debates on historical memory, gendered resistance, and the ethical imperative to confront authoritarian legacies in the present.

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