The 5th International Congress of Angolan Studies brought together experts in Lisbon to discuss Angola’s political, economic, and socio-cultural challenges.
The 5th International Congress of Angolan Studies took place once again this year on 29 May 2026 at the National Library in Lisbon (Portugal), bringing together academics, researchers, and specialists to present and discuss research on the political, economic, and socio-cultural dimensions of contemporary Angola.
Organised by the Angola Research Network, the congress was structured around seven thematic panels covering areas as diverse as international relations, geopolitics, justice, territory, culture, education, and development. In this context, the opening presentation by Filipe Santos set the tone for the day’s discussions, focusing on the central theme of the event: understanding whether Angola is experiencing decisive years or remains in a period of waiting and uncertainty.
The opening session featured contributions on political transformations from Professor Corentin Cohen of the University of Oxford, who presented The Private Bureaucracy of Capitalism: Why Management Consultants, Accountants and Professional Service Firms Matter for Our Understanding of African Politics?, as well as researcher Ana Lúcia Lopes de Sá from ISCTE-IUL, who delivered the presentation UNITA’s Transformations after 2002: From “Irrelevance” to Nationalisation, Party Dynamics and the Role of Institutions in the African Context.
The subtitle “Angola: Decisive Years or a Holding Pattern?” was reflected throughout the presentations, which addressed issues ranging from politics to economics, justice to territory, and culture to education. At the same time, speakers questioned whether the country is undergoing a moment of structural transformation or remains constrained by institutional and social barriers.
Within this context, particular attention was given to the presentation “The Teaching Profession”, delivered by Maria Neves Gonçalves (ESEL-IPLUSO and CeiED, Portugal), representing a research team composed of Joana Quinta (ISCED-Benguela, Angola), Dulce Franco (ESEL-IPLUSO, Lusófona University, CeiED, Portugal), Micaela Fonseca (Lusófona University, HEI-Lab: Human-Environment Interaction Digital Laboratories, Portugal), and Esmeralda Santo (CeiED, Portugal).
The study comparatively analysed the profiles, motivations, and perceptions of teacher education students in Portugal and Angola, contributing to a better understanding of educational and socio-professional dynamics within the Portuguese-speaking world.
The congress also included asynchronous contributions via YouTube, broadening the scope of discussions on digital political communication, leadership, intellectual capital, and public policies related to coloniality—understood in terms of power relations (who decides, who holds authority, who is marginalised), economic structures (patterns of dependency, inequality, and exploitation), knowledge production (the valorisation of European knowledge and the devaluation of local knowledge), and identities and cultures (the imposition of cultural, linguistic, and social norms).
Participants unanimously praised the high quality of the congress, and a commitment was immediately established to hold the next edition in 2027.
