Signs, Symbols and Stones: The Portuguese American Urban Ethnic Landscape #1
Wouldn’t it be fun to wander in an urban ethnic landscape — maybe even get lost — and learn about a different culture? This series will take us to such an urban ethnic landscape, close to home yet far enough away to make it different and exciting. A hybrid landscape combining elements of European and American culture — that of the Portuguese Americans in southeastern New England. But the things we learn to observe can help us know what to look for in any urban ethnic landscape and there are hundreds of them in the metropolitan areas of the United States.
I grew up in this area and in the Portuguese American culture. Now I’m a retired geography professor and I’ve outlined these ideas in detail in my book Making History — Creating a Landscape: The Portuguese American Community of Southeastern New England. https://www.amazon.com/Making-History-Creating-Landscape-Southeastern-ebook/dp/B07HG68BGY
So — signs, symbols and stones (monuments). We’ll also be looking at architecture, churches, cemeteries, gardens, murals and many other visible aspects of culture. In this first post we’ll look at a variety of things to give you an idea of what the series is about.
Food! Or foodways, as sociologists say. Let’s start with the picture above. Obviously food is an important aspect…
