Portuguese India: The Indian Ocean Space, Urban Systems, and Colombo

The Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao S.A.R. Government will organize an Academic Research Lecture in the Cultural Affairs Bureau Auditorium (Edifício do Instituto Cultural, Tap Seac Square, Macao) on August 1 (Wednesday) at 6:30pm. Dr. Nihal Perera, Associate Professor of Urban Planning at Ball State University will give a lecture on “Portuguese India: The Indian Ocean Space, Urban Systems, and Colombo”.
The European imprint is the most prominent in a large majority of cities across the world. In Asia, this began with the Portuguese incursion into the Indian Ocean in the late fifteenth century. Hence a knowledge of Portuguese urban systems in Asia is very significant for the understanding of Asian urbanization. This presentation will map out the urban systems and spaces created by the Portuguese in the Indian Ocean, with a specific focus on Colombo, looking at. The spatial revolution:
Going in opposite directions to get to the same place in the late fifteenth century, the Portuguese and the Spaniards caused a spatial revolution for Europe. This initiated spatial practices based on the idea that the world is a globe. At the same time, this three-dimensional space was redefined through devices such as the Pope's line. The Indian Ocean Space:
The Portuguese also created a sea-space defined by its outposts and the path of the Carreira da India. This sea-space –the body of which is the ocean—was a political body which was different to land-based kingdoms, empires, and port cities ("city states") that existed in Asia. Although it was not created by design, but by negotiated outcome, the Portuguese Indian Ocean Space very much reflected their imperial/ monopolistic intentions. Dr. Nihal Perera is Associate Professor of Urban Planning and Ex Director of Asian Studies at Ball State University. This year he is Fulbright Scholar at Hong Kong Baptist University. He has studied at University of Sri Lanka, University College, London, MIT, and has a PhD from State University of New York. His publications include, Society and Space: Colonialism, Nationalism, and Postcolonial Identity in Sri Lanka (Westview Press, 1998); Feminizing the City: Gender and Space in Colonial Colombo (2002); Contesting Visions: Hybridity, Liminality, and Authorship of the Chandigarh Plan (2004); Importing Problems: The Impact of a Housing Ordinance on Colombo (2005). He is also the director of CapAsia, a unique field-study semester in south Asia. He is currently working on a book Asian urbanization. The lecture will be given in English with Cantonese and Portuguese simultaneous interpretation. Entrance is free. For further details, please contact Ms. Esther Chu at 5986544, or visit the Cultural Affairs Bureau’s website: www.icm.gov.mo.