Manipulating Nostalgic Discourse at the Casas Museu da Taipa of Macau

Summary

This paper questions the discursive manipulation of memory work at the historic houses on the island Taipa in Macau. The houses of the Casas Museu da Taipa used to be the property of Portuguese families. I will talk about the objects which are connected with the Portuguese women. By examining these objects, I will explore how these women positioned themselves in social categories influenced both by Western Europe where they came from, and Macau to which they migrated. I focus on the identity-making through memory and develop a contemporary interpretation of the objects questioning the role of objects in dynamic relations and culture processes. I will analyse how heritage is used and understood in the contemporary collecting within the historic house through nostalgic discourse. By evaluating and disrupting the preexisting nostalgic account, this paper wants to bridge the disjunctions through an added and critical nostalgic discourse. This not only redefines the museum in the present, but also prevents editing and recontextualizing objects from a heavily manipulated domestic context, allowing new and old accounts to coexist both in harmony and in tension.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Archaeologies of Memory and Identity   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2014

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): SYM-47,09