Humanities in the Future Tense: Mapping Interdisciplinary Approaches in the Research Project Landscapes of the Self

Abstract

The project entitled “Landscapes of the Self” emerged from the feeling that research is undertaken in a world that no longer breaks down according to existing disciplinary boundaries. The approach to the study of autobiographies covers a range of areas, enables the understanding of contexts of experience of the self, and is grounded in the inherent paradigms of the disciplines that frame and sustain this research—discourse analysis and cultural studies. An open-minded and sustained form of communication between these different fields of knowledge has underpinned the production of knowledge on discourse and representation in political autobiography. This article focuses on the two volumes of Cavaco Silva’s “Political Autobiography,” highlighting the representation of the emotional profile of the former Portuguese prime minister (1985–1995) in the construction of his political identity. Based on Cavaco Silva’s words and on the frequency with which he uses them, the article shows how emotions unfold in his discourse and reveal his intimate and public identity both as a man and as a statesperson.