Symposium Portugal-Netherlands: Past and Present

11 June 2010 Sweelinckzaal, Drift 21, Utrecht

The celebration of Portugal’s National Holiday (10th June) in the Netherlands presents itself as the ideal pretext to promote a discussion about the historical and cultural relations between the two countries. Supported by the Camões Institute for the promotion of Portuguese culture abroad, in association with the Portuguese Embassy in The Netherlands, Utrecht University invites Dutch and Portuguese specialists and enthusiasts from various fields to come together and reflect on the two countries’ connections throughout history, tracing back different moments when their past endeavours, global context and shared interests have brought them together.

This diachronic expedition will progressively lead the debate to the present day, always emphasizing mutual influences, preserved and continually renewed cultural links, as well as encouraging a digression through Portuguese literary and artistic manifestations in contemporary Dutch society.

PROGRAM

9:00 – OFFICIAL OPENING of the Symposium by the Portuguese Ambassador in the Netherlands, Manuel Nuno Tavares de Sousa.

Chair: Simon Kuin (Author of Ligados por mar/Door zee verbonden - uma história das ligações entre Portugal e os Países Baixos)

09.30 – Overseas expansion and colonial past – Jurrien van Goor (Author of Prelude to Colonialism, Dutch in Asia, Hilversum 2004 and De Nederlandse koloniën, Geschiedenis van de Nederlands eexpansie, 1600-1975, Den Haag 1997)

10.00 – Portuguese Jewish community in the Netherlands – Julie-Marthe Cohen (Curator of the Jewish Historical Museum, Amsterdam)

10.30 –Tegels & Azulejos: Dutch tiles in Portugal 1650 – 1725– Francine Stoffels (Co-editor of Tegel, Foundation of Friends of the Dutch Tile Museum in Otterlo)

11.00 – COFFEE BREAK

11.30 – Second World War and the escape route Netherlands/Portugal 1933-1945 – Loe Schoonbrood (Investigator) and Menno Postma (Historian and journalist on Portuguese history)

12.00 – Fighting the dictatorship abroad: Humberto Delgado in the Netherlands – Menno Postma (Historian and journalist on Portuguese history, co-author of Humberto Delgado, as eleições de 58)

12.30 – LUNCH BREAK

Chair: Ana Paula Jordão (Portuguese Department, Utrecht University)

14.00 – Camões and Slauerhoff – Arie Pos (ILC, Porto University)

14.30 – Fernando Pessoa in the Netherlands – Michaël Stoker (Author of Fernando Pessoa: de fictie vergezelt mij als een schaduw, Utrecht 2009)

15.00 – Cinema: The Lonely Dorymen – George Sluizer (director of Mortinho por chegar a casa 1996 and A jangada de pedra 2002)

15.30 – OPEN DISCUSSION

16.00 – Fado Violado – performance by Ana Pinhal (vocals) and Francisco Almeida (guitarra)

Contact: Vera Peixoto (Camões Institut in Utrecht, NL) VeraLucia.PSilva@instituto-camoes.