4 - The Return of the Return

Summary

Through a focus on memories, Chapter 4 continues the story of migrant integration and postimperial nation-building from the mid-1970s and 1980s up to the present day. Since the turn of the millennium, the returnees have become much more visible again in the public sphere. This final chapter analyzes this return of "the return" in a memorial boom of sorts, its nostalgia, its use of markers of authenticity, and its narrative frameworks. It contextualizes these memories within the current worldwide battles over the legacies of empire, but also within the Portuguese context of the fortieth anniversary of the Carnation Revolution in 2014, which coincided with a severe economic crisis and harsh austerity measures. The chapter maintains that the recent upsurge of memorial activities on and by retornados that tend toward identity building should be challenged by historical thinking that looks toward truth.