This article assesses the importance of Jorge de Sena's critical work, which depicts his understanding of Brazilian culture as experienced during his exile (1959-1965). A selection of texts was gathered in the posthumous volume Estudos de cultura e literatura brasileira/Studies in Brazilian Culture and Literature (1988), in which the Portuguese writer and Brazilian citizen discusses, problematizes, and tries to explain the mutual ignorance and misunderstandings of identity, and confrontations between Brazil and Portugal, contributing to a clearer view of Lusophone culture. Stressing that this thinker's work on Luso-Brazilian relations anticipates later criticism, the article argues that these profound studies of Brazilian culture from a Portuguese perspective represent a serious and balanced reflection on the social, political and cultural obstacles preventing Portugal and Brazil from implementing the project of Lusofonia.