Angolanidade

Angolanidade (lit. 'Angolanness' or 'Angolanity') is the national identity of Angola. It can also be described as Angolan cultural patriotism. Much of what is today considered angolanidade was created by Angolan intellectuals as a conscious effort to highlight an idealized vision for what it means to be Angolan.

History

Angolanidade began to develop in the 1940s and '50s, when black Angolans started to differentiate themselves from white settlers by embracing and reclaiming aspects of traditional African culture. Angolanidade adopted some aspects of négritude, a cultural ideology developed by francophone African intellectuals that emphasized the distinctness of African cultural output. The ideas espoused by the négritude movement were adapted to Angolan culture by Angolan intellectuals, such as poet Viriato da Cruz. Da Cruz codified the concept of angolanidade in 1948 as a literary movement with the slogan "Let's Discover Angola!," supported by publication of the journal "A Mensagem." Writers within the movement, including Agostinho Neto, later to be Angola's first president, identified and highlighted the culture of Angolan musseques, or shanty towns, as a direct counterpoint to the colonial government's perspective that such places were squalid and full of crime. Though the literary movement had largely declined by the 1960s, its cultural influence remained.

By the time of the Angolan War of Independence, from 1961 to 1974, embracing angolanidade and declaring cultural autonomy became a way of pushing back against the oppression of colonialism.

Cultural aspects

Writing, dance, music, and fashion are major aspects of how angolanidade is created, perpetuated, and expressed.