# Event Details

- **Event Name**: Dissertation Defense | Torin Spangler
- **Event Start and End Date**: Thu, 16 Apr, 2026 at 03:00 pm (-04:00)
- **Event Description**: Please join us on Thursday, April 16 at 3:00pm in the George Monteiro Conference Room of Meiklejohn House (159 George St.) as Torin Spangler, PhD candidate in Portuguese and Brazilian Studies, defends his dissertation, Steamboats and Kiandas: The Nineteenth-Century Riverscape in Modern Angolan Literature.

Committee
Leonor Simas-Almeida, Co-Advisor
Luiz Valente, Co-Advisor
Gabriel Rocha, Reader

Abstract
In this dissertation, I examine the history of the Lower Kwanza River valley and textual representations of that space. From heartland of Mbundu kingdoms to conduit of the traffic in enslaved Africans and axis for the nineteenth-century steamboat trade in “legitimate” commercial products, the Kwanza has a rich, if fraught, history as a contact zone between various peoples in Angola and the broader Atlantic world. Although it is now a national symbol for all Angolans, an essential thread in the establishment of that symbolism has emerged from a literary tradition associating the Kwanza with the cultural and economic activities of a subset of late-nineteenth-century “angolenses” and their struggles against marginalization under modern colonialism. Through literary works by António Assis Júnior, José Eduardo Agualusa and Arnaldo Santos (among others), the Kwanza is viewed through the lens of a sometimes romanticized, sometimes problematized, space-time of the “golden age” of Angola’s nativistic bourgeoisie and its frustrated efforts to consolidate an autonomous local identity in the awkward transition between ages of colonialism. As river traffic gives way to trainlines, an accelerated colonial occupation makes river-bound mercantile elites obsolete, but not before their semi-aquatic world is immortalized in writing and forever bound-up with a shifting and multilayered literary Kwanza riverscape. I argue that this textual construct has been intensely metahistoriographic from its inception, generating a palimpsest of oral and written literary and historical references that has inspired multiple generations of Angolan writers.
- **Event URL**: https://allevents.in/providence/dissertation-defense-|-torin-spangler/200029920120148
- **Event Categories**: art, literary-art, nonprofit, business, conferences
- **Interested Audience**: 
  - total_interested_count: 1

## Ticket Details


## Event venue details

- **city**: Providence
- **state**: RI
- **country**: United States
- **location**: 159 George Street, Providence, RI, United States, Rhode Island 02906
- **lat**: 41.82551
- **long**: -71.39939
- **full address**: 159 George Street, Providence, RI, United States, Rhode Island 02906

## Event gallery

- **Alt text**: Dissertation Defense | Torin Spangler
  - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events1/banners/cc32b2fa9abfd250009e267e991e6486921a348631eeb1bb97c871239526b89a-rimg-w1200-h592-dca65e48-gmir?v=1775823168

## FAQs

- **Q**: When and where is Dissertation Defense | Torin Spangler being held?
  - **A:** Dissertation Defense | Torin Spangler takes place on Thu, 16 Apr, 2026 at 03:00 pm to Thu, 16 Apr, 2026 at 03:00 pm at 159 George Street, Providence, RI, United States, Rhode Island 02906.
- **Q**: Who is organizing Dissertation Defense | Torin Spangler?
  - **A:** Dissertation Defense | Torin Spangler is organized by Portuguese and Brazilian Studies at Brown.
- **Q**: Who is this event for? Is it right for me?
  - **A:** Dissertation Defense | Torin Spangler is ideal for art lovers, collectors, creatives, and anyone inspired by visual arts, installations, and exhibitions. Whether you're a first-time attendee or a longtime enthusiast in Providence, this event is thoughtfully curated to deliver a standout experience worth every moment. If Dissertation Defense | Torin Spangler sounds like your kind of event, don't wait - spots fill up fast.

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