Enslavement Memorialization Travel in Cacheu, Guinea-Bissau

Authors

Natália Marques da SilvaFollow

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Major/Program

Global and Sociocultural Studies

First Advisor's Name

Andrea Queeley

First Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Chair

Second Advisor's Name

Vrushali Patil

Second Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Member

Third Advisor's Name

Jean Rahier

Third Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Member

Fourth Advisor's Name

Hilary Jones

Fourth Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Member

Keywords

Memory, Slavery, West Africa, Roots, Heritage, Colonialism

Date of Defense

8-29-2022

Abstract

This dissertation examines affect, memory, and narrative by analyzing practices of memorialization in Cacheu, Guinea-Bissau. Vestiges of transatlantic enslavement and Portuguese colonialism abound the township and region of Cacheu, where recent diasporic gatherings and a newly developed memorial-museum have attracted a diverse audience. These initiatives inscribe Guinea-Bissau into a well-established regional memory circuit, indicating continued efforts to understand and confront a shared past and its aftermath. Besides local residents and heritage workers, visitorship to Cachean heritage sites includes National visitors from Guinea-Bissau, African nationals from neighboring countries, African Diaspora from Brazil and the United States, and Portuguese veterans who fought on either side of Guinea-Bissau’s colonial struggle. Placing Cacheu at the center of a multi- sited analysis on transatlantic memorialization, I examine how heritage workers, residents, and visitors experience and narrate places and spaces shaped by trauma and resistance. Building on travel memoirs and multidisciplinary homecoming literature, I employ ethnography, entry-exit surveys, and semi-structured interviews to longitudinally unpack engagements (and disengagements) with transatlantic enslavement and colonialism. By segmenting participants’ journeys (pre- on- and post-travel), the resulting analysis finds 6 that on-site memorialization and affective experiences are always relational and collective in nature. For continental and diaspora African participants alike, on-site experiences are rooted in lengthier, often life-long aspirations for meaning and restitution informed by the past yet subject to interpretation thereafter. I argue that through co-creation, enslavement memorialization travel constitutes a practice of resistance against anti-Black violence and geopolitical discrimination often justified by Lusotropicalist narratives. The dissertation also contributes data on impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, divergent perspectives on heritage management, and memorialization contact zones between residents and visitors.

Identifier

FIDC010865

ORCID

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5393-2552

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Marques da Silva, Natália, "Enslavement Memorialization Travel in Cacheu, Guinea-Bissau" (2022). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 5213.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/5213