HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2014
In this article, I examine a number of urban features emerging from the coexistence of Portuguese... more In this article, I examine a number of urban features emerging from the coexistence of Portuguese and Chinese in Macau, a former Portuguese overseas possession returned to China in 1999. The study of the city’s material space formation requires combining an ethnographic approach with the analysis of historical elements. Analysing historical sites that were inscribed in a fragmented fashion in Macau’s urban fabric (the Leal Senado Square, the Chinese temples), as well as architectural designs that marry Portuguese and Chinese know-how and symbolism (the Church of Saint-Paul), I examine the relationship between urbanisation and cohabitation of the long-term in the production of place. The aim of this study being ultimately to show that the Portuguese presence in Macau reveals a culture of accommodations involved with the production and conservation of a world heritage of unique characteristics. Key-words: Portuguese presence, urbanisation, accommodation, heritage, Macau, China Résumé Dans cet article, j’examine des traits urbains induits par la coexistence entre Portugais et Chinois à Macao, ancienne possession de l’Outre-mer portugais retournée à la Chine en 1999. Réfléchissant à la formation de l’espace matériel de la ville, je mobilise les démarches ethnographique et historique. À partir de l’analyse de sites historiques qui ont été inscrits de manière segmentée sur le tissu urbain constitué (la Place du Leal Senado, les temples chinois), et d’architectures qui épousent savoir-faire et symbolisme portugais et chinois (l’Église Saint-Paul), j’interroge les rapports entre urbanisation et cohabitation sur l’histoire longue dans la production de cette localité. Le but de l’étude étant, finalement, de montrer que la présence portugaise à Macao révèle une culture d’accommodements qui contribua à la production et à la sauvegarde d’un patrimoine unique au monde. Mots-clés: présence portugaise, urbanisation, accommodement, patrimoine, Macao, Chine
Book Review: Ng, Janet. (2019). Dreamworld of Casino Capitalism: Macao’s Society, Literature, and... more Book Review: Ng, Janet. (2019). Dreamworld of Casino Capitalism: Macao’s Society, Literature, and Culture. Cambria Press. 257 pp. ISBN: 9781621964278
Macau's latest phase of casino development has engendered staggering economic growth and hect... more Macau's latest phase of casino development has engendered staggering economic growth and hectic urban and social transformations. Since 2002, when gambling liberalisation (liberalização do jogo) put an end to the monopoly contract won in 1962 by Stanley Ho Hung-sun's Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau (STDM), gambling has dominated the city's economy, with an average of 15 per cent growth over the last ten years, reaching roughly 88% of Macau's GDP in 2013. Beating Las Vegas in its own game, Macau became the world's most lucrative gambling centre in 2006.
Drawing on ethnographic research, this article examines the ways in which the calçada portuguesa ... more Drawing on ethnographic research, this article examines the ways in which the calçada portuguesa (“Portuguese pavement”) that the late Portuguese administration developed in Macau (China) was converted into a “cultural item” of Macau’s visual and urban identity. It shows how a project loosely linked to the demise of the colonial, while reclaiming space through a contested operation of urban renewal, transformed the calçada into a seemingly desired spatial and historical narrative, tied to the production of heritage and the emergence of a stronger “theming” strategy of tourism promotion for Macau. Primarily an urban project employed in the revitalization of the cityscape, the incipient calçada encountered culturally inspired resistance and animosity from the Chinese population. At first embodying a contested image and legacy, the pavement has, nevertheless, undergone symbolic regeneration through discursive and material readjustment following its localization into the cultural history of place. Throughout this process, past and present were conflated in a fabrication that eventually undermined the reminiscent equivocal nature of interethnic relations that marked the transition from colonial to postcolonial Macau.
At a time when intense dynamics of urban development of Asian cities puzzle and disorient, Ideas ... more At a time when intense dynamics of urban development of Asian cities puzzle and disorient, Ideas of the City in Asian Settings offers knowledge about the concepts, representations, and ideas that lie beneath the historical and contemporary production of cities in Asia, in order to deepen our understanding of the processes and meanings of urban development in the continent. The book sheds more light on the vast array of rules and innovations and aspirations that make cities into complex objects that are continuously ‘in the making’. Because Asian cities have experienced unprecedented dynamics of urban development during the last fifty years, they are considered as crucial places to question the perspectives that multiple actors project onto changing urban environments, as well as the evolution of the role of cities in globalisation.
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2014
In this article, I examine a number of urban features emerging from the coexistence of Portuguese... more In this article, I examine a number of urban features emerging from the coexistence of Portuguese and Chinese in Macau, a former Portuguese overseas possession returned to China in 1999. The study of the city’s material space formation requires combining an ethnographic approach with the analysis of historical elements. Analysing historical sites that were inscribed in a fragmented fashion in Macau’s urban fabric (the Leal Senado Square, the Chinese temples), as well as architectural designs that marry Portuguese and Chinese know-how and symbolism (the Church of Saint-Paul), I examine the relationship between urbanisation and cohabitation of the long-term in the production of place. The aim of this study being ultimately to show that the Portuguese presence in Macau reveals a culture of accommodations involved with the production and conservation of a world heritage of unique characteristics. Key-words: Portuguese presence, urbanisation, accommodation, heritage, Macau, China Résumé Dans cet article, j’examine des traits urbains induits par la coexistence entre Portugais et Chinois à Macao, ancienne possession de l’Outre-mer portugais retournée à la Chine en 1999. Réfléchissant à la formation de l’espace matériel de la ville, je mobilise les démarches ethnographique et historique. À partir de l’analyse de sites historiques qui ont été inscrits de manière segmentée sur le tissu urbain constitué (la Place du Leal Senado, les temples chinois), et d’architectures qui épousent savoir-faire et symbolisme portugais et chinois (l’Église Saint-Paul), j’interroge les rapports entre urbanisation et cohabitation sur l’histoire longue dans la production de cette localité. Le but de l’étude étant, finalement, de montrer que la présence portugaise à Macao révèle une culture d’accommodements qui contribua à la production et à la sauvegarde d’un patrimoine unique au monde. Mots-clés: présence portugaise, urbanisation, accommodement, patrimoine, Macao, Chine
Book Review: Ng, Janet. (2019). Dreamworld of Casino Capitalism: Macao’s Society, Literature, and... more Book Review: Ng, Janet. (2019). Dreamworld of Casino Capitalism: Macao’s Society, Literature, and Culture. Cambria Press. 257 pp. ISBN: 9781621964278
Macau's latest phase of casino development has engendered staggering economic growth and hect... more Macau's latest phase of casino development has engendered staggering economic growth and hectic urban and social transformations. Since 2002, when gambling liberalisation (liberalização do jogo) put an end to the monopoly contract won in 1962 by Stanley Ho Hung-sun's Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau (STDM), gambling has dominated the city's economy, with an average of 15 per cent growth over the last ten years, reaching roughly 88% of Macau's GDP in 2013. Beating Las Vegas in its own game, Macau became the world's most lucrative gambling centre in 2006.
Drawing on ethnographic research, this article examines the ways in which the calçada portuguesa ... more Drawing on ethnographic research, this article examines the ways in which the calçada portuguesa (“Portuguese pavement”) that the late Portuguese administration developed in Macau (China) was converted into a “cultural item” of Macau’s visual and urban identity. It shows how a project loosely linked to the demise of the colonial, while reclaiming space through a contested operation of urban renewal, transformed the calçada into a seemingly desired spatial and historical narrative, tied to the production of heritage and the emergence of a stronger “theming” strategy of tourism promotion for Macau. Primarily an urban project employed in the revitalization of the cityscape, the incipient calçada encountered culturally inspired resistance and animosity from the Chinese population. At first embodying a contested image and legacy, the pavement has, nevertheless, undergone symbolic regeneration through discursive and material readjustment following its localization into the cultural history of place. Throughout this process, past and present were conflated in a fabrication that eventually undermined the reminiscent equivocal nature of interethnic relations that marked the transition from colonial to postcolonial Macau.
At a time when intense dynamics of urban development of Asian cities puzzle and disorient, Ideas ... more At a time when intense dynamics of urban development of Asian cities puzzle and disorient, Ideas of the City in Asian Settings offers knowledge about the concepts, representations, and ideas that lie beneath the historical and contemporary production of cities in Asia, in order to deepen our understanding of the processes and meanings of urban development in the continent. The book sheds more light on the vast array of rules and innovations and aspirations that make cities into complex objects that are continuously ‘in the making’. Because Asian cities have experienced unprecedented dynamics of urban development during the last fifty years, they are considered as crucial places to question the perspectives that multiple actors project onto changing urban environments, as well as the evolution of the role of cities in globalisation.
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