30 research outputs found
Ruminations on Renovation in Beira (Mozambique)
This paper explores specific sites of leisure-swimming pools, movie theatres, hotels, and cafés that were built at the height of colonial tourist aspirations in Beira, Mozambique (1950s-1970s) and that were formally reserved for colonial elites, specifically in this case, Portuguese citizens, British Rhodesian sugar plantation managers who were stationed in Beira at the time, and visiting (white) tourists, and their families. What do these infrastructures tell us about colonial urban planning, including sites of leisure and their histories of racialized restrictions? What can they say about tourism in a (Portuguese) colonial city that was once the centre of the
East African corridor and an access point to the ocean for neighbouring (British) Malawi and Rhodesia? That these same swimming pools, theatres, hotels, and cafĂ©s are very much in use today by a very different set of inhabitants says something about this âreluctant cityâ (Forjaz 2007, 2) in the making. Through my ethnographic observations and impressions during two visits to the city in April 2009 and February 2016 I will attempt to think productively with âruins of empireâ (Stoler 2008) in order to chart a set of ruminations on acts of renovation in present day Beira. These ruminations are intended to show a complex city in its daily habitus by way of relationships (both of materiality and affect) between people and certain build environments. My focus suggests that these particular sites (and by way of their features such as colours, tiles, fixtures) afford a window onto Beiraâs condition of postcoloniality (as well, the simultaneity of its conditions of colonialism, socialism and war) through the creative ability of its African inhabitants to take specific urban infrastructures left behind by its Portuguese colonial possessors in the wake of Mozambiqueâs rapid decolonization in 1975, and adapt them to their own strategic and innovative purposes
The corporeal and the carnivalesque: the 2004 exposition of St. Francis Xavier and the consumption of history in postcolonial Goa
To enter Old Goa during the 2004 Exposition of St. Francis Xavierâs âSacred Relicsâ is to experience a world where the corporeal and the carnivalesque coalesce. It is a ritual and religious space wherein the corpse of a 16th century Jesuit missionary-turned-saint takes center stage: pilgrims and tourists stand in the same line to âseeâ Xavierâs corpse and âtouchâ his glass casing, Goaâs (Portuguese) colonial legacy is exhibited for public consumption, Catholic religious services and lectures on this missionaryâs biography in a variety of languages take place at regular intervals, makeshift stalls sell numerous iconic objects associated with the saint, and finally, the uncertainty of Xavierâs fate is exposed. In this article, I explore the many facets of this exposition of Goaâs patron saint, suggesting that by taking part in these highly ritualized acts focused on Xavier, tourists and pilgrims simultaneously transform the space of Old Goa, consume its âPortugueseâ past, and become part of history-in-the-making in the face of the increasing fragility of his corpse. Although this paper is based on ethnographic research conducted in 2004, its themes remain relevant given that Xavierâs last decennial exposition was staged in 2014-2015, and will continue to take place at ten-year intervals.Entrar em Velha Goa (Old Goa) durante a exposição das ârelĂquias sagradasâ de S. Francisco Xavier em 2004 significa experienciar um mundo onde o corpĂłreo e o carnavalesco se unem. Trata-se de um espaço ritual e religioso onde o corpo do jesuĂta missionĂĄrio do sĂ©culo XVI, transformado em santo, adquire destaque: turistas e peregrinos esperam na mesma fila para âverâ o corpo de S. Francisco Xavier e âtocarâ o seu tĂșmulo de vidro; o legado colonial (portuguĂȘs) de Goa Ă© exibido para consumo pĂșblico; serviços religiosos catĂłlicos e conferĂȘncias sobre a biografia do missionĂĄrio sĂŁo realizados em diversas lĂnguas a vĂĄrias horas do dia; bancas improvisadas sĂŁo montadas para vender numerosos objetos icĂłnicos associados ao santo; Ă© exposta a incerteza sobre o destino de S. Francisco Xavier. Neste artigo exploro estas vĂĄrias dimensĂ”es desta exposição do santo patrono de Goa, sugerindo que os turistas e os peregrinos, ao participarem nestes atos fortemente ritualizados, simultaneamente transformam o espaço de Velha Goa, consomem o passado âportuguĂȘsâ, e passam a fazer parte de uma histĂłria em processo de construção, face Ă crescente fragilidade do corpo do jesuĂta. Apesar de o artigo ser baseado numa pesquisa etnogrĂĄfica conduzida em dezembro de 2004, os seus temas mantĂȘm-se atuais, jĂĄ que a Ășltima exposição de S. Francisco Xavier ocorreu em 2014-2015, prevendo-se que continue a realizar-se de dez em dez anos
The Life of the Corpse
This collection of six articles draws on contributions presented to the international
symposium on The Life of the Corpse, convened by the Wits Institute for Social
and Economic Research (WISER) in August 2008. The symposium in turn was the
culmination of a thematic study group on the same topic.
1
The intellectual animus
for both was an interest in considering the cultural politics of death, from the specific
vantage point of the corpse and the challenges in meaning-making and regulation that
the dead body presents. In particular, as organisers of these forums,
2
we wanted to
foreground what we deemed the dualistic life of the corpse: as a material object,
on one hand, and a signifier of wider political, economic, cultural, ideological and
theological endeavours, on the other. The moment of death produces a decaying
body, an item of waste that requires disposal â simultaneous with an opportunity,
sometimes an imperative â to recuperate the meaning of spent life, symbolically
effacing the material extinction that death represents. Every society, then, has had
to face the question: how to reconcile the quest for a dignified end of human life,
with a putrefying piece of flesh indistinguishable from other animals? This resource is a postscript of the final published articel, available through Taylor and Francis here: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/0002018090338124
Ruminations on Renovation in Beira (Mozambique)
This paper explores specific sites of leisure-swimming pools, movie theatres, hotels, and cafés that were built at the height of colonial tourist aspirations in Beira, Mozambique (1950s-1970s) and that were formally reserved for colonial elites, specifically in this case, Portuguese citizens, British Rhodesian sugar plantation managers who were stationed in Beira at the time, and visiting (white) tourists, and their families. What do these infrastructures tell us about colonial urban planning, including sites of leisure and their histories of racialized restrictions? What can they say about tourism in a (Portuguese) colonial city that was once the centre of the
East African corridor and an access point to the ocean for neighbouring (British) Malawi and Rhodesia? That these same swimming pools, theatres, hotels, and cafĂ©s are very much in use today by a very different set of inhabitants says something about this âreluctant cityâ (Forjaz 2007, 2) in the making. Through my ethnographic observations and impressions during two visits to the city in April 2009 and February 2016 I will attempt to think productively with âruins of empireâ (Stoler 2008) in order to chart a set of ruminations on acts of renovation in present day Beira. These ruminations are intended to show a complex city in its daily habitus by way of relationships (both of materiality and affect) between people and certain build environments. My focus suggests that these particular sites (and by way of their features such as colours, tiles, fixtures) afford a window onto Beiraâs condition of postcoloniality (as well, the simultaneity of its conditions of colonialism, socialism and war) through the creative ability of its African inhabitants to take specific urban infrastructures left behind by its Portuguese colonial possessors in the wake of Mozambiqueâs rapid decolonization in 1975, and adapt them to their own strategic and innovative purposes
Ruminations on Renovation in Beira (Mozambique)
This paper explores specific sites of leisure-swimming pools, movie theatres, hotels, and cafés that were built at the height of colonial tourist aspirations in Beira, Mozambique (1950s-1970s) and that were formally reserved for colonial elites, specifically in this case, Portuguese citizens, British Rhodesian sugar plantation managers who were stationed in Beira at the time, and visiting (white) tourists, and their families. What do these infrastructures tell us about colonial urban planning, including sites of leisure and their histories of racialized restrictions? What can they say about tourism in a (Portuguese) colonial city that was once the centre of the
East African corridor and an access point to the ocean for neighbouring (British) Malawi and Rhodesia? That these same swimming pools, theatres, hotels, and cafĂ©s are very much in use today by a very different set of inhabitants says something about this âreluctant cityâ (Forjaz 2007, 2) in the making. Through my ethnographic observations and impressions during two visits to the city in April 2009 and February 2016 I will attempt to think productively with âruins of empireâ (Stoler 2008) in order to chart a set of ruminations on acts of renovation in present day Beira. These ruminations are intended to show a complex city in its daily habitus by way of relationships (both of materiality and affect) between people and certain build environments. My focus suggests that these particular sites (and by way of their features such as colours, tiles, fixtures) afford a window onto Beiraâs condition of postcoloniality (as well, the simultaneity of its conditions of colonialism, socialism and war) through the creative ability of its African inhabitants to take specific urban infrastructures left behind by its Portuguese colonial possessors in the wake of Mozambiqueâs rapid decolonization in 1975, and adapt them to their own strategic and innovative purposes
Discourses of Incorruptibility: Of Blood, Smell and Skin in Portuguese India
Em 1553, o corpo do missionĂĄrio jesuĂta Francisco Xavier foi declarado miraculosamente preservado e enviado para Goa. Como surgiu e se manteve ao longo do tempo a ideia da sua incorruptibilidade material no Estado da Ăndia? Este estudo analisa um conjunto de exames mĂ©dicos realizados para sancionar as apariçÔes pĂșblicas deste santo ou ExposiçÔes como os funcionĂĄrios coloniais lhes chamavam. O discurso destes relatĂłrios de autĂłpsia encontra-se entre a hagiografia catĂłlica e a medicina ocidental, tornando-os interessantes para a compreensĂŁo da mudança anatĂłmica das relaçÔes entre a Igreja e o Estado na Ăndia portuguesa.En 1553, le corps du missionnaire jĂ©suite Francisco Xavier fut dĂ©clarĂ© miraculeusement prĂ©servĂ© et envoyĂ© Ă Goa. Comment lâidĂ©e de son incorruptibilitĂ© matĂ©rielle surgit et se maintint sur la longue durĂ©e dans lâĂtat de lâInde? Cette Ă©tude analyse un ensemble dâexamens mĂ©dicaux rĂ©alisĂ©s pour sanctionner les apparitions publiques, ou «Expositions» selon lâexpression des fonctionnaires coloniaux, de ce Saint. Le discours de ces rapports dâautopsie se situe entre lâhagiographie catholique et la mĂ©decine occidentale. Ces documents sont intĂ©ressants pour comprendre le changement organique des relations entre lâEglise et lâĂtat de lâInde portugaise.In 1553, the corpse of Jesuit missionary Francisco Xavier was declared miraculously preserved and shipped to Goa. How did the idea of his material incorruptness (through signifiers of blood, smell, and skin) get sustained over the long durĂ©e of the Estado da Ăndia? This paper examines a series of medical examinations (1554, 1614, 1782, 1859, 1952) that were issued to sanction this saintâs public displays or ExposiçÔes as colonial officials eventually called them. That these autopsy reports discursively lie between Catholic hagiography and Western medicine makes them compelling for understanding the changing anatomy of church and state relations in Portuguese India
Of Ports and Portugal: Keywords in Honour of Michael Pearson
This article will track my own intellectual engagement with Michael Pearsonâs wide-ranging scholarship (on topics that range from ports to Portugal) over a twenty-year span (1995-2015). Similar to Pearson, I began my academic career as a Goa (Indo-Portuguese) specialist and moved onto studying the Indian Ocean as a point of connection and comparison across aquatic terrains. I will take up certain âkeywordsâ as a vocabulary of culture and society (following Raymond Williams, 1976) specific to Pearsonâs oeuvre in order to show my conceptual development through his scholarship, and his important contributions to historiography and historical studies. Keywords will range from âcorruption, corsairs and crowdsâ in 16th -17th century Portuguese India, to âports, islands, the monsoon, and a whiff of the ozoneâ in the Indian Ocean world, and lastly to âhippies and tourismâ in postcolonial Goa
Ăngela Barreto Xavier, A Invenção de Goa: Poder Imperial e ConversĂ”es Culturais nos SĂ©culos XVI e XVII
Discours de lâincorruptibilitĂ©: sang, odeur et peau en Inde portugaise
In 1553, the corpse of Jesuit missionary Francisco Xavier was declared miraculously preserved and shipped to Goa. How did the idea of his material incorruptness (through signifiers of blood, smell, and skin) get sustained over the long durĂ©e of the Estado da Ăndia? This paper examines a series of medical examinations (1554, 1614, 1782, 1859, 1952) that were issued to sanction this saintâs public displays or ExposiçÔes as colonial officials eventually called them. That these autopsy reports discursively lie between Catholic hagiography and Western medicine makes them compelling for understanding the changing anatomy of church and state relations in Portuguese India
Ăngela Barreto Xavier, A Invenção de Goa: Poder Imperial e ConversĂ”es Culturais nos SĂ©culos XVI e XVII
The idea of «invention» invokes a double dislocation, one of space and time. This is the premise upon which Ăngela Barreto Xavier sets out to explain how Goa â what we understand it to be, that is â was invented in the context of the experience of imperial Portuguese expansion overseas during the span of the 16th and 17th centuries and in a particular region of South India. Certain viable political and economic conditions allowed for this invention to happen diachronically, and thus for there..