Business management of sensitive memories: powers, meanings and practices around Cais do Valongo in Rio de Janeiro/rj

Abstract

In this article, we analyze the nets of power that allowed the inscription of the archaeological site Cais do Valongo as a World Heritage Site. Through documents, fieldwork, and specialized literature, we highlight three scenarios: the incorporation of black activists into public administration in the late 1970s, the international legitimacy of Afro-Brazilian agendas by Unesco’s Slave Route project and the increase to the tourism industry during the urban operation Porto Maravilha at the beginning of the 21st century. We argue that the territorialization of the memories of slavery was driven by a business management of cultural identities, in which technical methods and procedures were imposed as a model of political action. In this way, we conclude that the Afro-Brazilian identity discourse was integrated into the new dynamics of capital accumulation and cultural commodification, with the meanings and practices around the wharf aggregating the logic of the duty of memory and competition regulation.