João Sarmento - Fortifications, Post-Colonialism and Power: Ruins and Imperial Legacies

FORTIFICATIONS, POST-COLONIALISM AND POWER

Series Editor: Brian Graham,
school of environmental sciences, University of Ulster, UK

Towards world Heritage
international origins of the Preservation movement 18701930
Edited by Melanie Hall
IBSN 978 1 4094 0772 0

selling ethnicity
Urban Cultural Politics in the Americas
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IBSN 978 1 4094 1037 9

local Heritage, Global context
cultural Perspectives on sense of Place
Edited by John Schofield and Rosy Szymanski
ISBN 978 0 7546 7829 8

The Dynamics of Heritage
History, memory and the Highland clearances
Laurence Gourividis
ISBN 978 1 4094 0244 2

Landscape, Race and Memory
Material Ecologies of Citizenship
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ISBN 978 0 7546 4957 1

Unquiet Pasts
Risk Society, Lived Cultural Heritage, Re-designing Reflexivity
Edited by Stephanie Koerner and Ian Russell
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Culture, Heritage and Representation
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Edited by Emma Waterton and Steve Watson
ISBN 978 0 7546 7598 3

Ruins and Imperial Legacies

JOO SARMENTO

First published 2011 by Ashgate Publishing

Published 2016 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA

Copyright 2011 Joo Sarmento

Joo Sarmento has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Notice:
Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

Sarmento, Joo.

Fortifications, post-colonialism and power : ruins and imperial legacies. -- (Heritage, culture and identity)
1. Fortification, Portuguese--History. 2. Portugal--Colonies--History.

I. Title II. Series

355.7'09469-dc22

Sarmento, Joo, 1969-

Fortifications, post-colonialism and power : ruins and imperial legacies / by Joo Sarmento.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4094-0303-6 (hbk)

1. Fortification, Portuguese.
2. Fortification--Portugal--Colonies. 3. Postcolonialism--Portugal.
4. Portugal--Colonies--Civilization. I. Title.

UG429.P6S37 2011
355.709171'2469--dc23

2011017999

ISBN 9781409403036 (hbk)
ISBN 9781315582825 (ebk)

I did not intend to write this book four years ago, but my involvement with the contemporary resonances of various Forts throughout Africa and Asia made me think it would be valuable to compile a series of case studies in a single publication. My work raises issues in the development paths of Postcolonial Geography and critically points towards the present dominance of single minded spatialisations of the past. But I also like to think of it as a work that highlights the power of geographical knowledges and a contribution to a reinforced focus of Cultural Geography on the sheer uneven materiality of the lives of people affected by the colonial present.

While this book has been written under the increasingly pressured interstices of life as an academic, I am clearly aware of the privilege of being a western academic, of having the opportunity to look and reflect upon Africa, even if all I can provide is a partial and exclusionary analysis. For this luxury, I have to thank the Geography Department at the University of Minho for allowing me to have a sabbatical year in 20078, and to make quick journeys to various places around the globe in the past 10 years. I also acknowledge the Centre for Geographical Studies of the University of Lisbon (CEG), where I have been a researcher since 2008, for funding part of my research in So Tom and Prncipe and in Morocco. To the Science and Technology Foundation of the Ministry for Science, Technology and Higher Education, I must thank the financial support of the Sabbatical Scholarship (SFRH/BSAB/731/2007) that allowed me to be a visiting professor in the University College Cork, Ireland during the end of 2007 and parts of 2008, and to conduct fieldwork in Kenya and Cape Verde in those same years. The Portuguese Institute of Developing Aid (IPAD) facilitated my stay in So Tom, and Antnio Correia kindly introduced me to the practicalities of town. Jorge Correia from the University of Minho and Andr Teixeira from the New University of Lisbon made my journey to and in Morocco smoother. At CEG, Jos Manuel Simes was always very supportive of my various requests.

I am also grateful to numerous colleagues and friends for ongoing conversations or specific engagements with versions of one or more of the chapters that follow. As part of the process of thinking through some of the ideas in this book, I have presented material on Forts, landscape and memory at a variety of conferences, seminars and lectures. It would be impossible to thank everyone who has influenced my ideas over time, but I would like to acknowledge just a few: Ana Francisca Azevedo, Carlos Ferrs, Carlos Maca, Francisco Armas, Jafar Jafari, Maria Alexandre Lousada, Patrick OFlanagan, Paul Claval, Paul Fryer, Petri Hottola, Roberto Lobato Correia and Zeny Rosendahl. Joo Carlos Garcia, Jos Ramiro Pimenta and Eduardo Brito Henriques, friends and geographers I admire, have kindly commented in detail parts or the full manuscript. I appreciate their generosity and support.

I clearly owe immensely to the many people who have talked to me during my periods of fieldwork in Kenya, Cape Verde, So Tom e Prncipe and Morocco. Their patience, humour, generosity, willingness to help, offering their expertise and time while refusing any kind of compensation, is truly monumental. Denis Linehan has been a key person in this endeavour. He has always encouraged me to write about the Forts, opened his doors in Cork and in Nairobi (thanks also Kathy), and quite frequently we discussed personally and through Skype, many issues throughout the last years. Without Denis crisp geographical view and fertile lines of enquiry, I would not even have made it to the middle of this book.

To my parents, sister, brother in law and nephews, who often have to put up with a cranky man frequently absent I would like to acknowledge their love and patience. Finally, I would like to say a special thanks to Marisa Ferreira, my wife and the homes honorary cultural geographer, who has accompanied me in many visits to Forts, archives and libraries throughout the world. She has tolerantly helped me in the most varied tasks, looking at ruins under pouring rain, talking to people in the street under the tropical sun, always gently making insightful comments throughout this journey. Without her support, love and kindness I could have never completed this book.