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The cultural turn that marked the Humanities and Social Sciences in some European countries in the 1960s and 1970s was only established institutionally in Portugal in the late twentieth century. Yet, that turn had an early echo in certain Portuguese intellectual circles. The aim of this essay is to present the first initiatives and figures that introduced such ideas and guidelines in Portugal. It starts with a brief overview of the emergence of Cultural Studies in France and Great Britain. Then it presents the first initiatives and figures that welcomed in Portugal those research programs in a peripheral political and social context characterized by an authoritarian regime implicated in a colonial war. Finally, the paper highlights the role played by university students, writers, publishers and journals of culture and literature outside of the establishment, which emphasize the importance of margins and alternative environments in processes of cultural and scientific reception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]