Obra Oin-oin Kona-ba Timor-Leste

By Anthony Soares Oost-Timor moet vrij! Poster by Basuki Resobowo 1977 Abstract: This article examines whether the experiences of Portuguese and Indonesian colonial rule in East Timor acted as a unifying factor, creating a sense of East Timorese national identity, inspiring its poets to engage in a revolutionary and anti-colonial lyrical discourse that mirrored the aspirations of those fighting for independence. It also considers the significance of contemporary East Timorese poetry that has elements of a counterdiscourse in a postcolonial, independent East Timor, asking whether the apparent unity of anti-colonial lyric voices has fractured, and whether the disappearance of the oppressive presence of Indonesia means that there is no power that can inspire a concerted reaction amongst East Timorese poets. Finally, although the ‘other(s)’ against which the colonial and postcolonial poetic counterdiscourses of East Timor are reacting against may be different, the negati...