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Abstract
Although modernization theories of nationalism have stressed the instrumental role of technology in the forging of nations they have neglected how technology itself became a fundamental element of a new shared national culture. Taking the case of the city of Lisbon during the second half of the 19th century this paper aims to suggest that technological artifacts, like steam engines, ports or buildings, assumed the nature of national icons ready to be consumed by urban masses. It also stresses the significance of mass events celebrating the capital city reforms and improvements in a society with high levels of illiteracy. The Portuguese example thus expands its relevance beyond the local context for it is expected that it may offer new hints on how to think about technology in countries depicted in the historiography exclusively by its backwardness.
Notes
[1] See Gellner, Nations and Nationalism; Anderson, Imagined Communities; Mann, The Rise of Classes. Even the critics of modernization theories of nationalism that prefer to emphasise previous forms of national identity are ready to recognize the role of technology in its mass diffusion during the 19th century (cf. Smith, Nationalism and Modernism). On national identity and modernization, see also Weber, Peasants into Frenchmen.
[2] Gellner has been writing on nationalism since the 1960s but he had to wait for the 1980s for recognition. See Hall, The State of the Nation, 1–2.
[3] Marx, The Machine in the Garden; Nye, American Technological Sublime.
[4] On Portuguese railways see Alegria, A Organização dos Transportes.
[5] On Saint‐Simonians, see Musso, Télécommunications et philosophie; Picon, Les Saint‐Simoniens.
[6] Mónica, A Europa e nós, 16.
[7] I follow the compilation in Mónica, A Europa e nós. All the following quotations of the controversy refer to this source.
[8] Bonifácio, Apologia da História Política.
[9] Cabral, O desenvolvimento, 163.
[10] Price, Napoleon III.
[11] The very same King D. Pedro V denounced the authoritarian character of regenerationism calling its leader, Fontes Pereira de Melo, ‘a despot that called himself a liberal’. See França, O Romantismo, 249.
[12] Words of the Saint‐Simonian cardinal Michel Chevalier in 1841 about the opening of the first international railway line connecting Strasbourg with Basel. Quoted by Matellart, História da utopia planetária, 119. Herculano in this first article did not accuse regenerationists directly of following Saint‐Simon doctrines, but one month later he was already denouncing the candid use of ‘Coquelin, Bastiat, Chevalier’ by the Portuguese technocrats. Cf. Mónica, A Europa e nós, 89.
[13] See Mónica, A Europa e nós; Catroga, ‘Alexandre Herculano’.
[14] França, O Romantismo, 109–126.
[15] Garrett, Viagens na Minha Terra.
[16] On the subject of landscape and speed, see Corbin, L'Homme dans le paysage. For a more general discussion on modernity and vision see Crary, Suspensions of Perception.
[17] Marx, ‘The Idea of “Technology”’.
[18] On technology and the building of Portuguese modern state see, Justino, A Formação do Espaço; Cabral, O desenvolvimento; Branco, O Mapa de Portugal.
[19] Saraiva, Ciencia y Ciudad.
[20] On the role of scientific institutions of the 19th century as urban landmarks of reformed capitals, see Lafuente and Saraiva, ‘The Urban Scale of Science’.
[21] Reis, O atraso económico português, 231.
[22] I follow the account of several Lisbon newspapers: Diário de Notícias, no. 5267 (1880); O Ocidente 3, no. 70 (1880): 186–187; Diário Ilustrado, no. 2653 (1880); Diário Popular, no. 4917 (1880); Diário civilizador, no. 97 (1880).
[23] Companhia das Águas de Lisboa, Assembleia geral.
[24] Sena, História da Imagem Fotográfica, 84–86.
[25] See: Lafuente and Saraiva, ‘La buena nueva de la ciencia’; Nye, American Technological Sublime.
[26] O Occidente 3, no. 70 (1880): 186–187.
[27] Custódio, ‘Reflexos da industrialização’.
[28] Benjamin, Poesía y capitalismo, 71.
[29] Saraiva, Ciencia y Ciudad.
[30] Castilho, A Ribeira de Lisboa.
[31] Hintze Ribeiro and Aguiar, Proposta de lei sobre.
[32] Almeida, A Construção do Estado Liberal.
[33] Alexandre, Velho Brasil/Novas Africas.
[34] The most successful civic procession was organized in 1880 to celebrate the tercentenary of the death of the national poet Luís de Cam[otilde]es, following the positivist ideology of the great men. The celebration is commonly seen by Portuguese historiography as an opportunity of the republican opposition to capitalize on the international pressures faced by the Monarchy over the colonial empire in ‘the scramble for Africa’. In 1890, a British ultimatum forced Portugal to give up over the vast hinterland between present day Angola and Mozambique, in what would become the beginning of the end for Portuguese liberalism that would have its death sentence in 1910 by a Republican coup d'état. See, Cabral, Portugal na alvorada; Ramos, A Segunda Fundação.
[35] Sociedade de Geografia de Lisboa, Melhoramentos do porto de Lisboa.
[36] Anais da Comissão Central Executiva, Quarto Centenário.
[37] Ibid., vol. I (1895): 10.
[38] João, ‘As comemoraç[otilde]es’.
[39] França, Lisboa 1898.
[40] ‘Edificio da Sociedade de Geografia’, O Occidente XX, no. 674 (1897): 202.