An alternative modernity? Architecture, urbanity and colonialism in Lourenço Marques in late-colonial period

Abstract

Seeking to approach modernity from a decentered point of view, the current post-doctoral research aims to analyze the production of urban space and cultural alterity in Lourenço Marques in late colonial time. In the final years of the Portuguese rule, Maputo received technicians, bureaucrats and architects who have sought to build an ideal of civilization and modernity based on the idea of race. In order to properly analyze this process, a six-month mobility program in the Institute of Social Science of the University of Lisbon (ICS-UL) is required. At this institution, I would be in contact with researchers that are working on related topics. At the ICS, I would also take part in research groups from different institutions. Additionally, the FAPESP grant will enable the research at the Portuguese archives and the fieldwork at Lisbon. In this sense, this BEPE proposal are essential for the finalization of my post-doctoral research. Besides, the present BEPE scholarship proposal is the first stage of a larger project that ambition a second mobility period at Harvard University, necessary to investigate modernity in Africa in a more general and comprehensive way. (AU)