THE DICTATORIAL MODERNIZATION OF PORTUGAL

Abstract

The chapter draws a line between the regime’s propaganda and the massive modernization program of the Portuguese dictatorship. It shows how the message is still inscribed in the body of the city and continues to be read, told, and disseminated by citizens and tourists alike. The redesigned or newly created memorials of the Estado Novo have also survived all the political upheavals unscathed and uncommented. Only the simple shanty towns for the lowest income groups have largely disappeared and with them the memories of the forced resettlements that were the basic prerequisite for the urban modernization program of the régime.