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Signs, Symbols and Stones: The Portuguese American Urban Ethnic Landscape #3
Welcome back; we’re continuing our expedition through the urban ethnic landscape, learning about a different culture, that of Portuguese Americans in southeastern New England. Mostly we’ll be looking at three cities in the area: Fall River and New Bedford, Massachusetts and nearby East Providence, Rhode Island.
So — signs, symbols and stones (monuments). Let’s look today at some symbols in the landscape. You’ll never see a sign saying “Entering the Portuguese American Community” so it’s fun to learn how to spot these ethnic markings and what they mean. As I write in my book, geographers and other social scientists have a variety of names and phrases for the symbols that mark an ethnic group’s presence in the landscape. You can take your pick from a variety of words and phrases scholars have come up with: semiotics, iconography, symbology, cultural signifiers, and I like this one best: ethnic landscape signatures.
Let’s start with the Portuguese flag (above) because in itself it’s rich in symbols and colors that are common cultural signifiers. And, as an extra added bonus, we’re going to touch on two “Words of the Day!”
Much of the symbolism on the Portuguese flag goes back to the 11th and 13th centuries as the Portuguese took back their territory from the Muslim…