Colonial Heritage on Display: Tourism, Leisure and the Making of Estado Novo Ideology

Resumo

As with similar political paradigms in the early twentieth century, the Portuguese Estado Novo - an autocratic regime in force between 1933 and 1974 - grounded its legitimacy, as well as that of its leadership, particularly António de Oliveira Salazar, in the existence of a transcontinental empire. This empire, articulated through cultural heritage and symbolic representations, was mobilised to project notions of national authenticity and historical continuity. Within this framework, this chapter examines how colonial cultural heritage was instrumentalised by propaganda agencies led by António Ferro as a means of indoctrinating the population in contexts associated with tourism and leisure - that is, in spaces where the exercise of power was not overtly anticipated. The First Portuguese Colonial Exhibition (Oporto, 1934) and the Exhibition of the Portuguese World (Lisbon, 1940) are analysed as case studies to demonstrate how colonial heritage functioned as a vehicle for disseminating and legitimising the ideology of Salazar.