In the beginning, there is the ocean. An ocean that does not divide but binds, where islands and continents converse through waves that carry memory, language, and longing. Out of these waters rises a global village, a place where saudade becomes both a compass and a song. Like threads woven across horizons, the Portuguese diaspora has stitched together lives, communities, and dreams—bridges that shimmer between past and future, between tradition and innovation. It is from this poetic geography that the XLIX Conference on Education and Culture of the Luso-American Education Foundation (LAEF), organized by the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) at California State University, Fresno, derives its form —a gathering dedicated to culture, memory, connectivity, and innovation.
Held October 2–4, 2025, in an online format via Zoom and Facebook Live, the conference embraces the theme Global Village: Portugal’s Diaspora as a Fountain of Culture, Memory, Connectivity, and Innovation (Aldeia Global: A Diáspora Portuguesa como Fonte de Cultura, Memória, Conectividade e Inovação). This theme resonates with the heart of diasporic life: the ability to preserve one’s identity while creating new pathways of belonging. Scholars, cultural practitioners, community leaders, and members of the diaspora will gather to reflect on the enduring impact of Portuguese heritage, not as a relic of the past but as a living, evolving presence that enriches both the homeland and host societies.
The three-day program opens with a bilingual inaugural ceremony and a talk in Portuguese, “Ecos através dos Oceanos: Memória Cultural na Diáspora,” followed by a reflection on how Luís de Camões continues to resonate across centuries, and later by a celebration of poetry and stories featuring writers and poets from across the United States and Canada. The day continues with a dialogue on memory and horizons for the Portuguese diaspora in North America. It concludes with a profound exploration of festas and community celebrations as sacred flames and shared tables that unite families, neighbors, and cultures across California’s diverse landscape.
On the second day, voices converge to celebrate Ogygia: Equinoxes of the Written Word, a literary bridge shaped by women across the Atlantic, and to examine the adaptive power of Azorean culture from Brazil to the United States. Later, the Conselheiros das Comunidades Portuguesas-USA/Canada highlight the intergenerational ties that keep the diaspora alive, before the focus turns once more to women as writers of saudade and identity. The evening closes with Digital Saudade, a panel that explores how digital tools—from livestreamed festas to virtual archives—are reshaping belonging and identity, while questioning whether these new spaces can sustain authenticity, cohesion, and resilience for the future.
The final day begins with a conversation on how dual citizenship strengthens the influence of the diaspora across the Atlantic. It then turns to women’s leadership in cultural and community life, highlighting their roles as storytellers, guardians of heritage, and visionaries of change. Noon brings a discussion on language and legacy, focused on how Portuguese can be passed to the next generation while balancing tradition with innovation in today’s digital and multicultural world. In the afternoon, reflections gather around A Caminho dos 50 — On the Road to 50, honoring nearly five decades of the LAEF conference as a beacon of memory, resilience, and connection. The closing ceremonies bring together the diverse voices and themes of the gathering, uniting them in a final act of shared belonging.
Threaded throughout these days are special moments of homage and celebration. Forty Years, Endless Horizons: FLAD Across the Atlantic celebrates the 40th anniversary of the Luso-American Development Foundation, recognizing its pivotal role in fostering connections across the Atlantic through education and culture. Meanwhile, Da Ilha ao Mundo: A Palavra Viva de Álamo Oliveira celebrates the life and work of the Azorean writer, with a segment at 8 PM on Thursday and Friday and a third one after the concluding ceremony of the conference, ensuring that his voice continues to echo with freedom, longing, and literary brilliance across islands and diasporas.
In a time when division threatens to fracture the very soul of America, it becomes urgent for ethnic communities to stand not apart, but together. To remember that our roots are not shallow ornaments, nor merely a recipe or a traditional dance, as important as they are as well, but our roots are deep rivers of literature, music, art, philosophy, and history. They are stories of emigration, of sacrifice, of building futures with calloused hands and stubborn hope. To be American is not to erase these roots, but to let them nourish our civic life, giving us strength to resist falsehood and fragmentation. In a landscape flooded with fake news—even within our own communities—the call is to speak truth, to face history with honesty, and to embrace dialogue as the only true bridge. Not dialogue whispered behind closed doors or hidden in anonymity, but spoken aloud, in the open, where it can be heard, questioned, and preserved. Digital platforms—such as Zoom, Facebook, and YouTube—become not distractions but new public squares where memory can be archived, where truth resists distortion, and where belonging is not manufactured in silence but forged in solidarity. The Global Village begins here, with the courage of local communities, keenly aware that respect for neighbors, family, and friends is the first step toward a more humane future.
And so, as the conference closes on Saturday, October 4th, the Atlantic once again reminds us that its tides do not erase—they connect. In the ebb and flow of panels and dialogues, we have hopefully found the pulse of memory and the spark of innovation.
The XLIX Conference of the LAEF, hosted by PBBI-Fresno State, is not merely an academic event but a living testimony that culture, like the sea, is never static. It moves, transforms, and carries voices from one shore to another. As we journey toward the golden milestone of fifty years, we remember that to belong to the diaspora is to live with one foot on the island (or mainland Portugal) and the other on another continent, to speak in multiple tongues, and to dream in the language of bridges.
From sacred flames to digital saudade, from the poetry of Camões to the verses and the prose of American writers with Portuguese roots, the conference becomes an oceanic constellation—a reminder that Portugal’s diaspora is not a scattered people, but a global village where memory and future can (and really must) walk hand in hand.
Oped by Diniz Borges
XLIX Conference on Education and Culture of the Luso-American Education Foundation (LAEF)
Organized by the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI), California State University, Fresno
October 2–4, 2025 | Online via Zoom & Facebook Live
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