More than 20 researchers from the Communication and Society Research Centre (CECS) from the University of Minho to Mozambique have contributed to strengthen ties between Portuguese-speaking countries and promote the development of Cultural Studies and Communication Sciences. The “Culture and Tourism” and “Lusocom” congresses were the motto for the presentation of numerous communications, the signing of cooperation protocols, the launch of the new volume of the journal Communication and Society and the conference proceedings of the XII Lusocom Congress, held in 2016 in the city of Praia in Cape Verde, the presentation of the documentary “No trilho de Malangatana”, and also
to gather for the first time the project team FCT/Aga Khan.
All of these activities contributed, as the director of CECS, Moisés de Lemos Martins, to “fortify the network of cooperation in the vast geostrategic, transcultural and transnational space of the Portuguese-speaking countries”.
International Congress Culture and Tourism
The presence of CECS in Mozambique was marked by the participation of more than twenty researchers at the International Congress on Culture and Tourism. This congress was carried out with the high sponsorship of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Mozambique and resulted from a partnership between the University of Minho and the Polytechnic University of Mozambique. Joaquim Chissano, former president of Mozambique and an honorary doctorate from the University of Minho, and Lourenço do Rosário, a former rector and current chancellor, have two great friends from the University of Minho.
This Congress on Culture and Tourism was also associated with the Municipal Council of Braga, which was represented by the city councilman, Miguel Bandeira.
The meeting was attended by the President of the Republic of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi, the Minister of Culture and Tourism of Mozambique, Silva Dunduro, the Governor of Maputo City, Iolanda Cintura, and the director of the CECS and president of this congress, Moisés de Lemos Martins.
Between November 26 and 27, CECS researchers discussed with Mozambican researchers questions on the role of tourism in the development and construction of peace, heritage, cultural expressions and identities, intercultural communication, memories, imagery and representations of the media, as well as the mobilities, landscapes, gastronomy and sustainability of cultural policies.
Given the presence of such a large delegation of researchers from CECS in Maputo, the Portuguese ambassador to Mozambique, Amélia Paiva received in audience the management of the CECS and the councilor of the Câmara de Braga, with a view to developing a common strategy for cooperation, at the level of Culture and the Arts.
The event also had space for the pre-launch of the journal Communication and Society on “Lusophone Studies and Communication Sciences” edited by Moisés de Lemos Martins, Alda Costa and Isabel Macedo.
Cultural Studies and Communication Sciences in the center of international cooperation
As part of this research mission to Mozambique, a Cooperation Agreement was signed between the Zambezi University in Beira and the University of Minho, and a Ph.D. program in Languages, Cultures and Society was started. The two universities are associated. This doctoral program is held at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at Zambezi University. The University of Minho is in charge of the discipline of “Intercultural Communication”, which Moisés de Lemos Martins taught this year in an intensive regime, the week before the beginning of the International Congress on Culture and Tourism.
The visit of the director of CECS to Mozambique also provided a meeting with Alberto Ferreira, Rector of the Catholic University of Mozambique, and Fernando Canastra, Vice-Rector of the same university. From this meeting resulted in the signing of a protocol of academic cooperation, in view of the development of Cultural Studies and Communication Sciences. Also present at this meeting was Celestino Joanguete, Ph.D. in Communication Sciences from the University of Minho and professor at the Catholic University of Mozambique.
XIII Lusocom Congress on “Communication and information for development”
The CECS researchers were also present, from November 28 to 30, at the XIII Lusocom Congress, held at Eduardo Mondlane University. Subordinate to the theme “Communication and information for development”, the Congress of the Lusophone Federation of Communication Sciences (Lusocom) was attended by the CECS in the organizing committee. During the course of this Congress, the conference proceedings of the XII Lusocom Congress was held, which took place two years ago in Cape Verde. This book of minutes was edited by CECS.
It was also presented on the first day of this congress the documentary “On the Rail of Malangatana”, made by Lurdes Macedo. This documentary is part of the collection of the Virtual Museum of Lusophone.
Even before his return to Portugal, he met for the first time the FCT / Aga Khan project team: Memories, cultures and identities: How the past weights on the present-day intercultural relations in Mozambique and Portugal? The Portuguese team is coordinated by Moisés de Lemos Martins and Rosa Cabecinhas and the Mozambican team by Eliseu Mabasso from Eduardo Mondlane University.
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