By Erika Mantz
603-862-1567
UNH News Bureau

April 8, 2002

DURHAM, N.H. ‚ In a decade, more people in the world will speak Portuguese than French. Learn more about the history of Portugal and Lusophone Africa at "New History for a New Age: New Directions in Historical Studies on Portugal and Lusophone Africa," an April 12-13 conference at the University of New Hampshire.

Sponsored by UNH's William L. Dunfey Endowment for the Study of History, the Department of History, the College of Liberal Arts, and the Center for the Humanities, the conference will bring together the top people in the world in the field. All of the sessions in the Elliott Alumni Center are free and open to the public.

In addition, the conference will celebrate the career of Douglas Wheeler, Prince Henry the Navigator Professor of Portuguese History and the Discoveries. Wheeler is retiring this spring after 37 years at UNH. An exhibition at the UNH Library opening Friday, April 12, at 8 p.m. will look at his career in retrospect. Sponsored by the Friends of the UNH Library, it will feature art objects he has collected over the years as well as a copy of a paper he presented in 1974 that came close to forecasting the overthrow of the dictatorship government in Portugal just one month before it actually happened.

"The people presenting at this conference are the cream of the crop," says Wheeler. "This is an opportunity for people to study a lesser known part of the world that is often forgotten by the media. There are seven countries with Portuguese as the official language and in about 10 years more people in the world will speak Portuguese than French."

The conference participants are members of the International Conference Group on Portugal, a worldwide research network headquartered at UNH and coordinated by Wheeler, who was also founder and editor of the Portuguese Studies Review for more than 10 years. The journal has subscribers in 38 states and 40 countries. A special double issue released in March was Wheeler's last.

The Dunfey Endowment was established at UNH in 1993, to promote discussion and study to reach understanding and resolution of world and national problems. "New History for a New Age: New Directions in Historical Studies on Portugal and Lusophone Africa" is the fourth Dunfey Conference.

The Elliott Alumni Center is located in the center of campus on Edgewood Road. On Thursday evening and Saturday, parking will be available at the Alumni Center. Visitors to campus on Friday should register with the Visitors' Office at the end of Parking Lot A, across from the Field House.

For more information, call UNH's Department of History at (603) 862-1764. See conference schedule below.

Friday, April 12

2 to 4:30 p.m. "History of Portuguese Africa"
Chair: Jeanne Penvenne, Tufts University
Comment: Pedro Machado, London University
Panelists: