Dynamics of social reconstruction in post-war Angola

From the beginning it was clear that the situation of the Angola Section was/is a quite specific one: In the first place, because the country’s experience with violence was, all in all, unique. In the second place, because the composition of the section, and the way in which it had to be planned and organized was entirely distinct not only from that of the Namibia Section of the project, but from that of any other project we know of. Given the severely limited development of the social sciences in Angola, where at that stage neither MA nor PhD degrees could be obtained, the main goal of the Angola Section was to make a substantial contribution to the enhancement of the scientific competence and research capacity in that field. In this perspective, it was of paramount importance to give the greatest possible number of young Angolan scholars the possibility to acquire MA and/or PhD degrees at ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon, in the interdisciplinary domain of African Studies.