Opening Remarks

We gather today not only to open a conference, but to open a circle—one that stretches across oceans, across generations, across the many geographies of our memory. For the sixth consecutive year, the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute at California State University, Fresno, welcomes the Luso-American Education Foundation Conference, reaffirming that dialogue is still possible, that listening remains an act of love, and that speaking together is still an act of courage.

This year, we call our gathering a Global Village—an aldeia without walls, where Portugal’s diaspora becomes both fountain and horizon, both guardian of what has been and architect of what is yet to come. Here, culture is not static stone but flowing water; memory is not a relic but a compass; innovation is not an escape from tradition but its most luminous continuation.

We meet at a time when noise too often replaces conversation, when rhetoric wounds more than it heals, when division tempts us to forget our shared humanity. And yet, here we stand—together—choosing a different language: the language of dialogue, of civil debate, of ideas exchanged not as weapons but as seeds. In this space, hopes and aspirations are not shouted down but lifted; here, imagination is stronger than cynicism, and reason is steadier than anger.

For the diaspora teaches us this truth: to live between shores is to understand that identity is not a single home, but many homes; not a single voice, but a chorus; not exile, but expansion. To belong in more than one place is not to be divided, but to be multiplied—to find the strength to carry memory in one hand and possibility in the other.

Let this conference be more than just sessions and panels. Let it be a garden of words where ideas take root, a harbor where memory anchors and sails, a table where we sit together as companions of dialogue. May these days remind us that our work—academic, cultural, communal—is not only to preserve, but also to imagine; not only to guard, but also to dream.

In honoring the past, let us remain faithful to the present. In speaking with one another, let us envision the future we long for: a future where dialogue endures, memory guides, and imagination opens doors.

Welcome to this gathering. Welcome to this circle. Welcome to the village we are building together.

Diniz Borges

The 2025 conference was co-chaired by Diniz Borges and José Luís da Silva.