Paper short abstract:

Oceans played a crucial role in the construction of scientific knowledge Portuguese. We cross in this proposal Oceans and Public Space with Sciences of the Nature and the Oceans: Bibliotheca of the People and the Schools (David Corazzi (1881-1912), crossed with Vasco da Gama’s Aquarium, 1898.

Paper long abstract:

The Seas and Oceans played a crucial role in the construction of scientific affective mood in Portuguese society, late 19th century. In this proposal we cross Oceans and public space with Sciences of the Nature and the Oceans in the Bibliotheca of the People and the Schools. Instruction advertisement for Portuguese and Brazilians (1881-1912), and the inauguration of the Vasco da Gama Aquarium in 1898, in Lisbon, Dafundo, a landmark of building a scientific and national memory to commemorate the voyage of 1498. We can alsomake some references to the imagery pointed out to the the Oceanarium in 1998, in the Eastern part of the capital, capital of a European space, but with a cultural Oceans imaginary . We start from the People's and Schools' Library Books collection (Bibblioteca do Povo e das Escolas de David Corazzi) to get a thematic approach to the fowling titles of the BPE collection: 1881. Introduction to the Sciencias Physico-Naturaes; 1882. The land and the seas. Scientific Divisions; 1883. The Sea; 1884 [OLIVEIRA, Manuel Rodrigues de], Fish farming; 1883. Natural History of Pisces; 1909 SILVA, Armando da (Director of the Vasco da Gama Aquarium). The Molluscs. Natural and economic history; 1909 DINIZ, Carlos, The Fishing. WE would like to combine this information with the importance of the Aquarium Vasco da Gama, as public museum space and its role in the construction of oceanographic knowledge networks.

Paper short abstract:

The Governance of marine resources has been criticized for being a potential threat to the continuity of coastal artisanal fishing communities. We examine how the fishing laws and their assumptions are consequential for local narratives about the past, present and future of fishing.

Paper long abstract:

The Governance of marine resources integrates laws that restrict several artisanal fishing activities, and have been criticized for being a potential threat to the continuity of coastal artisanal fishing communities. Past-present discontinuity has been presented in the psychosocial literature as identity-threatening and negative, yet some research also points to its usefulness in the positive (re-)construction of identities. To examine how the discontinuities brought by the laws and their assumptions are consequential for local identities and narratives about the past, present and future of fishing, we interviewed artisanal fishers and seafood collectors (n=39) from a coastal protected area in the southwest of Portugal. We investigated whether fishers' accounts of discontinuity with the past are (1) presented as negative or positive experiences; (2) mobilized to legitimize or delegitimize the ideas incorporated in the laws. Individual and group interviews were analyzed in two phases. First, a lexicometric analysis identified the main themes around which the interviews were organized. Second, we explored how discontinuities were mobilized across the themes, reconstructing local narratives to examine what functions these discontinuities fulfilled in taking positions towards the laws. Overall the assumption of a local contribution for fish scarcity is questioned and the discontinuity brought by the laws are characterized as negative and disruptive of the local way of life; yet, discontinuity is also sometimes presented as necessary: it accommodates changes (in tools and fishing conditions) that allow the continuity of the fishing activity, and opens space for identity negotiation and the integration of new meanings and actions required by the laws.

Paper short abstract:

This presentation focus on the littoral in the last three centuries. It addresses two main issues, how new perceptions and uses transformed the beach into a cultural landscape and how the impact of human actions is putting at risk this cultural and environmental heritage.

Paper long abstract:

The beach is now a much-sought destination during vacations. But, this is a 20th century phenomenon, since for centuries open coasts were feared empty places. It was only around the end of the 18th century, that perceptions changed and the European elites found a new utility to these spaces: sea-bathing. The elites brought civilization to the seaside and the beach was transformed into a cultural landscape.

Forts, lighthouses, marginal avenues, railways, casinos, hotels, houses, groynes, seawalls and other human infrastructures (and activities) are now part of the beach as much as their geological layers. This space is now a hybrid environment, a patchwork made of buildings, businesses, traditions, stories, memories, sand, rocks and salty water.

This presentation focus in the last three centuries perceptions and uses of the littoral. It analyses how different ideas and activities molded the beach as a cultural landscape and how human's global environmental changes are putting at risk this cultural and environmental heritage. It also points the relevancy of transdisciplinary work and public participation to find and support sustainable solutions for the future.

Paper short abstract:

Landscape-rooted (in)tangible heritage elements are investigated on the example of Ethnographic Landscape of Sklavokampos on Crete. By reading memoryscape and languagescape, rethinking the islandscape, the researcher questions desirable trends in integrative conservation of Mediterranean landscape.

Paper long abstract:

The researcher examines two-way interactions between landscape, as culturally framed physical environment, and identity, memory and heritage, i.e. encrypted landscapes, embodying the intangible within the tangible. These landscape-rooted (in)tangible heritage elements are investigated on the example of the (Ethnographic) Landscape of Sklavokampos on Crete (Greece). The ancient area of Sklavokampos was a crossing point, a transit area to the Minoan peak sanctuary landscape of Filiorimos and the town of Rethymno. Gonies, as one of the largest villages in the region, with a very strong pastoralist and agricultural economy, significantly contributed to the culture and history of the island. Nevertheless, post-World War II out-migration and urbanization severely depopulated the village and its surroundings. The research focuses on how the landscape is represented in memory, language and (in)tangible heritage, and what this reveals about the relationships of people to place and to land. By undertaking such a research, it is possible to assess the impacts of historical events and traditional practices on the landscape, "memoryscape", "languagescape" and heritage, within "islandscape", in order to allow comparative analysis with any other rural or Mediterranean landscape. In such a way, conclusions can be made about whether or not the current tendencies of Public participation, through Community archaeology, or creative industries, represent a desirable tool in heritage conservation, or whether there is a historical trend in the way the local community have responded to economic rapid change, globalization, emigration and/or immigration, which will interpret the current situation and recommend future potential trends in Heritage Management.

Paper short abstract:

The maritime activities of the sea-shore people shape their life and culture. The annual festival Boita Bandana of Odisha bears this testimony. In Boita Bandana the people of Odisha revisit the maritime history of their association with the distant shores of South East Asia.

Paper long abstract:

Since ancient times, the sea-faring activity is the distinctive signature of Odisha, a present state of India. On crossing the Indian Ocean in boats with sails unfurled and trading in far-off islands of South-East Asia, the heroic and ever agile merchants of ancient Kalinga kingdom (c. 3rd cen. BCE) i.e. present Odisha earned worldwide fame. This trade with South East Asian countries not only helped in developing cultural exchange but significantly contributed towards the prosperity of the then Kalinga. Even today the influence of the religious ideas and social concepts and as well as glimpses of lofty art and cultures of the Odisha are distantly visible in those countries.

To commemorate the glorious saga of ancient maritime trade, Cuttack as well as the rest of Odisha, has been celebrating a socio-religious festival Boita Bandana Ceremony of Bali-yatra annually.

In Boita Bandana the people of Odisha, dressing up in traditional costumes, float small boats made of cork, coloured paper and banana tree barks in the river or water tanks every year in the full moon day of the month of Kartika (October/November). The festival is similar to the 'Masakapan Ke Tukad' festival of Bali, and to the 'Loi Krathong' festival of Thailand, both of which involve ritualistic floating of boat-models around the same time of year.

Such festival of Odisha is presented through tableau to globalize maritime traces and post-colonial reality. It incorporates interdisciplinary intersections that exist within the realm of history and archaeological practice and heritage studies.

Paper short abstract:

This study is a cultural interpretation built upon ethnographic fieldworks and multidisciplinary hermeneutical efforts. It advances the argument of the present Portuguese cultural heritage containing a unique thalassocratic mythology that combines dominion over the sea and the domination by the sea.

Paper long abstract:

The ocean is fundamental to Portugal in both material and symbolical terms. A thalassocracy (Gr.: thalassa [Θαλασσα]: sea; and kratiā [κρατία]: rule) usually denotes a nation that achieved the measure of naval supremacy to rule the sea. But it also reveals a more literal sense of a nation ruled by the sea.

This study is a cultural interpretation (Geertz, 1973) that posits that the contemporary Portuguese cultural identity contains a unique thalassocratic mythology combining dominion over the sea—as the celebrated Lusitanian heroic navigator—and the domination by the sea—as the farmer removed from the mainland by the forces of elements. Supported by ethnographic fieldwork in a Portuguese diaspora community (Montreal in Canada) and in Lisbon, the study also draws from a multidisciplinary hermeneutical effort comprising anthropological, historical, literary, and political studies.

Fernando Pessoa alluded to the Portuguese dominion over the deep sea by calling his Mensagem poem' second part, Possessio Maris. The Lusitanian daunting maritime achievements stands for a heroic odyssey that could be told in three acts: the Portuguese create the Atlantic as second Mediterranean Sea (Mauro, 1992:100); they reach an apotheosis as a grandiose Indian thalassocratic empire during the Manueline period; and they retreat to a more stable and viable configuration of a seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Atlantic thalassocracy (Mauro, 1960:509). As an epilogue to this maritime saga, the loss of colonies relegates the thalassocratic memories and aspirations to a reminiscence that, nevertheless, lives strongly at the core of the Portuguese national mythology (Lourenço, 1992:90).

Paper short abstract:

We will discuss the relevant role played by the sea and the vessel Santa Maria do Monte Sinai in the wedding of Beatrice of Portugal to Charles II of Savoy, namely through the connectedness of Europe and the Empire to this significant moment for the Portuguese crown foreigner policy

Paper long abstract:

Portuguese history is intrinsically related to the Atlantic. Throughout the fifteenth-sixteenth centuries, this relationship with the sea intensified through the maritime expansion. Since travel and power settle in the discourse about the sea, courtly relationship with it became more complex even if women are almost always absent or settled in subordinate roles that escape the narration of History. Nevertheless, women were part of both maritime expansion and vessel traveling. Such is the case of Beatrice of Portugal that departed Lisbon on the way to Nice for her wedding to Charles II of Savoy in 1521 aboard Santa Catarina do Monte Sinai, one of the most powerful vessels of its time and that had served the Carreira das Índias until the previous year. For this, the interior of the ship was accommodated to the needs of female aristocratic domesticity, an opportunity to also express the lineage, fortune, and power of the Portuguese king.

By addressing the relevant role played by the sea in this event and the relation between choosing such vessel and the connectedness of Europe and the Empire to this significant moment for the Portuguese crown foreigner policy, we will also discuss the relationship between women and the sea

Paper short abstract:

Taking as referent some contemporary underwater archaeological sites as case studies like the submarine U-581, the Liberty Ship Dori or the Patrão Lopes the aim of this communication is to reflect about this sites as a culture heritage elements based in UNESCO convention.

Paper long abstract:

Reflecting about three underwater archaeological sites as case studies, the aim of this communication is to discuss about underwater preservation of contemporary sites. In different conditions all of them need a careful and respectful approach, taking UNESCO convention as framework.

The U-581, a submarine sank in 1942 in Pico at 870 meters depth, the Dori, a Liberty ship sank in 1964 in S. Miguel at 17 meters depth, and the Patrão Lopes sank in 1936 at 15 meters depth, in Tagus river in Lisbon, all have in common their vulnerability. The U-581 because of his depth are very well protected but the inaccessibility doesn't allow monitoring actions or more profound studies. The Dori is now an underwater archaeological park, well protected by the legal point of view but the increase of visitors is not evaluated as a stressful impact. Finally, Patrão Lopes, a Portuguese military ship seized to the Germans in 1916 during World War I, is well protect also by the legal point of view but in a vulnerable position in the mouth of the Tagus river, in a very dynamic position at the entrance of Lisbon harbor.

Analyzing each one, taking in attention the Convention and 2013 guidelines issued by the UNESCO scientific commission, that recommend that ships sunk between and during world wars should be protected under the Convention, the proposal of this communication is to show how this type of culture heritage needs our attention and preservation.