Towards a decolonisation of knowledge on borders: (Counter)memories and cultural heritage in the Spanish-Portuguese border of Andalusia

Abstract

The article exposes the permanence and recrudescence of inter-state borders in the era of globalisation. This allows us to develop an approach committed to the decolonisation of knowledge and a situated methodological approximation to the meanings that borders have for the local populations and neighbouring areas. We analyse different expressions of border cultures, such as smuggling and “as falas”, and their role in the processes of patrimonialisation. To this end, we carried out research and ethnography fieldwork with populations located on both sides of the southern border between Spain and Portugal. The investigation leads to the introduction of a revised perspective on the concept of cultural heritage itself, which has been  historically linked to the identity essences of national state projects and, therefore, marked by an emphasis on the homogeneity and materiality of culture. From this understanding, intangible heritage stands as an opportunity for the symbolic and economic development of peripheral populations by fostering the emergence of local history and memories that had remained invisible in favor of the legitimization of border walls.