Understanding seascapes as heritage-making geographies: the floating populations of Macao, in the Southeast Coast of China

Presented by Mariana Pinto Leitão Pereira.

Abstract

Sea nomads, boat-dwellers or floating populations are some of the expressions referencing communities living in the sea, off the islands and coasts of Southeast Asia. Crucial research has been conducted on the complex interactions of floating populations with land communities, landscapes and land-based forms of governance (e.g., Hoogervorst 2012).

Less understood, however, are the effects that migrations between seascapes and landscapes have on heritage processes and the ways knowledge of the sea is sustained in post-displacement contexts on land.

This presentation departs from the understanding that heritage entails the practices and manifestations of experiencing, giving meaning and using the past in the present; and aims to consider possible avenues for researching the heritage and knowledge of the Tanka or boat-dwelling communities of Macao. Ultimately, the research sits within a broader research project that looks at how heritage practices and knowledge of the sea on land can contribute to climate-change solutions.

Mariana Pinto Leitão Pereira is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Heritage for Global Challenges Research Centre, University of York, where she looks at how migration shapes cultural heritage, belonging and ways of knowing the world. Mariana is from the Portuguese-descendant community of Macao, in China; a board member of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (2023-2026) and a member of the Association of Critical Heritage Studies.