Tales from a "modern" city : towards the decolonization of recife's historic centre heritage discourse Contes d'une ville « moderne » : vers la décolonisation du discours patrimonial du centre historique de Recife En Fr

Résumé 0

This master's thesis delves into the impact of Recife's 1909 urban reform on the removal of remnants of slavery and the presence of Black communities in the city centre. It also examines whether contemporary heritage policies in Recife sustain this erasure. Employing a comprehensive array of qualitative and quantitative research methods, the study draws from extensive literature reviews encompassing urban history, slavery history, decolonial studies, and critical heritage studies. Furthermore, it conducts in-depth archival research to unearth historical cartography and iconography, providing spatial context to its findings. Additionally, quantitative analysis of the TransAtlantic Slave Trade database data is employed. This methodology sheds light on how European influences prior to and during the urban reform contributed to a secondary process of re-Europeanization of Brazil. It reveals how this European-inspired modernization marginalized the city's most economically vulnerable Black population and obscured the vestiges of slavery. The research also delves into the city's slavery history, shedding light on not only the locations associated with the slave trade but also the complex Black Geographies of the nineteenth century. Ultimately, the study underscores the perpetuation of this erasure in contemporary heritage policies, driven by a universalizing Authorized Heritage Discourse that disregards the diverse narratives of Black communities.