LISBON TO MACAO : THE OCCLUDED GEOGRAPHIES OF PORTUGAL’S DISCOVERIES里斯本至澳門：葡萄牙發現中堵塞的地勢
The article problematizes how the "occluded geographies" of the Portuguese discoveries are continuously reorganized among narratives of primacy, media spectacularization, and symbolic disputes over power. Drawing on comparisons between two transnational landmarks—the Freedom Tower in the post-9/11 e...
Saved in:
| Published in: | Review of Culture |
|---|---|
| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Articles |
| Published: |
Instituto Cultural de Macau
April 2009
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.icm.gov.mo/rc/viewer/pdfViewerParts/40030/3613 |
| Summary: | The article problematizes how the "occluded geographies" of the Portuguese discoveries are continuously reorganized among narratives of primacy, media spectacularization, and symbolic disputes over power. Drawing on comparisons between two transnational landmarks—the Freedom Tower in the post-9/11 era in New York and the "discoverer" imaginary mobilized in Lisbon for Euro 2004 and EXPO '98—the authors argue that Portugal (and, by extension, Macao) is inserted into visual and discursive regimes that simultaneously celebrate maritime expansion and filter its conflicts, contingencies, and territorial effects. Methodologically, the text articulates a critical reading of media framings and curatorial devices of urban space, analyzing relations between buildings and "towers" (with a recurring focus on the Torre de Belém and its network of meanings) to highlight how imperial memory is produced and governed. As findings, it demonstrates that the construction of "traditions of discovery" operates by linking monuments to projects of national self-affirmation (EXPO '98) and by repeating images of mobility as a foundation of legitimacy. The conclusion argues that such symbolic geometries reinforce cultural and historical boundaries, rendering certain geographies—including the Portugal–Macao connections—intermittent, mediated, and partially silenced. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1682-1106 |