The Macanese Encontros: REMEMBRANCE IN DIASPORA ‘HOMECOMINGS’Mariana Pinto Leitão Pereira

Title: The Macanese Encontros: Remembrance in Diaspora “Homecomings”Editor: International Institute of MacauAuthor: Mariana Pinto Leitão PereiraCover and Design: ABM Design & ComunicaçãoCover photography: António R. J. MonteiroCollection: Mosaico, Volume LVICirculation: 300 exemplaresPrinting: Foshan Nanhai Baosheng Packing Factory (Baosheng Printing)ISBN: 978-99965-59-39-6Macau, December 2019IIM – Instituto Internacional de MacauRua de Berlim, 204, Edifício Magnificent Court, 2º (NAPE), MacauTelephone: (853) 2875 1727 / (853) 2875 1767Fax: (853) 2875 1797E-mail: iim@iimacau.org.moWebsite: www.iimacau.org.moWith the support

The Macanese Encontros: Remembrance in Diaspora ‘Homecomings’Mariana Pinto Leitão Pereira

Volume LVI • 7The present paper was first written as a chapter of the book ‘Memory, Migration and Travel’, edited by Sabine Marschall and published in 2018. The editor kindly invit-ed me to explore the interplay between memory, ‘home-coming events’ and migrant associations. I took the op-portunity to focus on the case of my own community, the Macanese, and particularly to bring forth the so-called ‘Encontro(s) and Youth Encontro(s)’. These ‘homecoming’ gatherings have taken place in Macau every three years since 1993 and since 2009, respectively, and have brought to Macau the dispersed Macanese and their descendants. The purpose was to clarify how the Encontro unfolds; and to reflect on the role played by the Macanese migrant associations, mostly known as Casas de Macau (CM) – translated as home(s) or house(s) – in organizing these gatherings and perpetuating remembrances of, and con-nections to ‘home’. Currently, thirteen Casas, located in diasporic places of settlement all over the world, are rec-ognised by the Macanese Communities Council (CCM) as being officially involved in preparing the ‘homecom-ing’ events. In the end, I wanted to show how Macanese personal and shared identity perceptions are influenced by the Casas’ role of shaping the understanding and IntroductionTHE MACANESE ENCONTROS: REMEMBRANCE IN DIASPORA “HOMECOMINGS”

8 • Colecção MosaicoMARIANA PINTO LEITÃO PEREIRAremembrance of one’s roots. These identity perceptions have been expressed in newsletters and personal accounts before, during and after the Encontros. And so, I would like to thank all those who, despite living far apart, have shared their perceptions of the Encontros and of Macau in the various newsletters of the Casas. I would further like to deeply thank those who have personally told me of their views, have ex-pressed their emotions and positions. And I would like to acknowledge the comments made by António R. J. Monteiro in the process of editing the original paper. Without these amazing personal accounts and inputs, we would not be able to know what it means to live far from the place we long to be.

Volume LVI • 9THE MACANESE ENCONTROS: REMEMBRANCE IN DIASPORA “HOMECOMINGS”The paper begins with a summary of the Macanese migration, followed by a brief discussion of the term ‘homecoming’ as a conceptual framework underlying the case study. The findings that derive from archival research and analysis of 393 newsletters published on-line by the Casas, specifically of references related to the gatherings (see Arnone 2017, for a similar methodology). Supplementing the study of the Casas’ newsletters is data gathered from a two-hour semi-structured interview with the current President of the CCM, Mr. J. Sales Marques; from a review of local newspapers in Macau; from in-formal conversations with three conveniently sampled participants of the 2016 Encontro; and consideration of an email-contribution by a participant in the latest In-ternational Youth Encontro (referred to as Participant A). The three young adults (whose names are also withheld to protect their anonymity) were all born in the diaspora and shared their opinions, feelings and insights about the homecomings and their journey to Macau. It is important to acknowledge that this research is also the result of self-reflective engagement and observation. I identify myself as a member of the Macanese diaspora, having been born and raised in Macau. As a teenager, shortly after the handover, I emigrated to Portugal with Preamble

10 • Colecção MosaicoMARIANA PINTO LEITÃO PEREIRAmy parents, where I joined the Casa in Lisbon. I moved back to Macau in 2014 and attended my first Encontro there in 2016. Yet my only interaction with participants was during the opening dinner, for which I purchased a ticket. I was unable to join the rest of the events, as they were organized during working hours. In fact, I believe the Encontros do not really cater much for locally resident Macanese, who are largely excluded from the events, un-less they have contacts or volunteer in its organization. Despite much talk about (re)connecting with the local place and its social world, the Encontros are, in essence, about the journeying and gathering of the diaspora in Macau, a place constructed as ‘home’, and – as will be shown - the assertion of Macanese identity. Back row (Standing): José Domingos Pereira, Joana Maria Leitão Pereira and Ivone Amália Leitão Pereira.Front row (Sitting): Jorge Domingos Leitão Pereira and Amélia Maria Hi Leitão

Volume LVI • 11THE MACANESE ENCONTROS: REMEMBRANCE IN DIASPORA ‘HOMECOMINGS’M acau, a city located on the Southeast coast of China, was officially declared a Portuguese co-lony in 1887, although the Portuguese presence dated back to the mid-16th century. In 1999, a new phase in Macau’s history was marked by ‘the Handover’, as the city became a Special Administrative Region of China. While the Portuguese presence shaped Macau in many ways, the Portuguese population never constituted the majority of the city’s residents. Current data from the Statistics and Census Service (SCS) of Macau and from the Portuguese Migration Observatory (PMO) (SCS 2016; PMO 2017) show that 1.4% of the total popula-tion holds Portuguese nationality. Identifying the Ma-canese, however, poses several challenges.Known as filhos da terra (sons of the land), the Ma-canese, a heterogeneous Eurasian ethnic minority, are traditionally defined as those born in, or with ancestors from Macau; being descendants of intermarriages be-tween Portuguese and Asians, they are of very diverse physical appearance and characterized by hybrid cultural traits embedded in their behaviour and lifestyle (Gaspar 2015). Because Macau is not a nation-state, the Macane-se have various nationalities besides Portuguese, making The Macanese diaspora

12 • Colecção MosaicoMARIANA PINTO LEITÃO PEREIRAit almost impossible to identify and quantify the com-munity, both those who reside in Macau, as well as in the diaspora. In 2016, according to the SCS (2016: tables 34 and 35), around 6890 people in Macau were local--born Portuguese, and ca. 10,698 people claimed to have Portuguese ancestors. This does not mean they identify themselves, or are seen, as Macanese. In fact, and with more than half of Macau’s population being of recent migrant origin, the largest communities from mainland China, the Philippines and Vietnam, the Macanese minority is often mistaken as immigrant, given their physical appearance. Nevertheless, the Government of Macau is not only very much aware of the Macanese, but has provided support in many aspects, including for the Encontros, and has recognised its diasporic community. Macanese emigration was driven during the second half of the 19th century by political, economic and so-cial transformations in Asia. The spatial dispersion of the Macanese migrant population, many of Portuguese nationality, entailed moving almost exclusively to Hong Kong, Shanghai and other Chinese Treaty Ports, where local-born Macanese descendants began forming their own communities. During the Second World War, Macau became a neutral Portuguese haven, but also a host territory, with Shanghai and Hong Kong refugees seeing the land of their ancestors for the first time. Af-ter the War, Macau again experienced major migration outflows, including refugees who were Macanese-des-

Volume LVI • 13THE MACANESE ENCONTROS: REMEMBRANCE IN DIASPORA ‘HOMECOMINGS’cendants, in search for jobs, education and better live-lihoods, this time beyond the borders of China (Dias 2016:21, 22). Based on this, Dias describes the Macane-se migration as a diaspora, for entailing: a geographical scattering of long duration, linked by social networks and connections; awareness of the various dispersed communities; inter-generational transmission of com-mon cultural traits; and integration processes, with the family playing a relevant role as source, maintainer and consolidator of the migratory fluxes and networks. The ‘multiple origins’ of the Macanese diaspora have to be emphasized, and Macau has been, at different pe-riods, both the origin and a host for its diaspora. In a previous study on the Macanese community following the Handover, Koo (2004:33) questioned whether the diaspora’s ‘home’ could be identified, not only given the change that Macau underwent after 1999, but especially because of the imbricated temporal and spatial relations of the Macanese movements. Although only partially comparable, Iorio and Corsale’s (2013; 2017) research on the Transylvanian Saxons’ homecomings is noteworthy here. Originating from Germany, this community settled in Transylva-nia (modern-day Romania) during the Middle Ages, but their descendants moved ‘back’ to Germany after the collapse of the Soviet Union. These Transylvanian Saxons living in Germany, and their descendants, then (re)visit Romania as their homeland. Iorio and Corsale

14 • Colecção MosaicoMARIANA PINTO LEITÃO PEREIRA(2013; 2017) speak of a ‘Double Diaspora’ to express this complex movement between two different ‘places of origin’ and the affiliations established both with Ger-many and Transylvania. The authors distinguish the first-generation migrants as ‘homesick travellers’, and the generations born in Germany as ‘roots tourists’. Part of the Macanese migration could be analysed as a ‘double diaspora’, but it becomes complex to un-derstand how different migrant generations negotiate memories of Macau when this distinction depends on choosing which place is ‘the origin’. Participants in the Encontro include Macanese born and raised in Macau; others who emigrated very young and established ‘roots’ elsewhere; some born outside Macau, yet, as returning refugees, temporarily called it ‘home’; and others des-cending from the various waves of Macanese emigration dating back to the 19th century, many of whom have never even been to Macau. Another specificity of the Macanese Encontros is the key position of the migrant associations within the dias-pora. This parallels the involvement of clan associations in the homecomings of the Scottish diaspora (Basu 2004), which have also benefited from official support from the government (Sim & Leith 2013). Likewise, the Eritrean migrant associations and the Eritrean govern-ment function as active promoters of the connection to ‘home’ and between the diaspora (Arnone 2017). However, these case studies do not involve more than

Volume LVI • 15THE MACANESE ENCONTROS: REMEMBRANCE IN DIASPORA ‘HOMECOMINGS’one ‘place of origin’, and the role of the associations does not appear as central as in the Macanese Encontros. In short, the current research focuses on some singularities and unique permutations that contribute to nuancing the framework of ‘homecomings’, notably through the notion of multiple roots. “Homecomings”: a conceptual framework“Homecomings” have been conceptually approached in different ways and by a variety of scholars. Tradition-ally, members of diaspora were defined in relation to a specific territory of origin or ‘home’, and their desire to return has been coined as ‘homecoming’, but the dias-pora concept has shifted, along with the definition of a single unchanged ‘home’ (see e.g. Axel 2004; Brah 2005; Brubaker 2005). ‘Home’ is no longer thought of as a static element, and the meaning and relevance of ‘homeland’ is constantly negotiated (Weingrod & Levy 2006; Jansen & Löfving 2007). The concept of ‘home’ is an inconsistent, contingent or fluid notion that can refer to multiple places, movements and conceptions at the same time, is momentary and ‘atemporal’, embedded

16 • Colecção MosaicoMARIANA PINTO LEITÃO PEREIRAand constructed through feelings, memories and expe-riences; but also a concept that can portray a stable phy-sical space which roots and frames (Basu 2004; Bhan-dari 2017; Golob 2013, Marschall 2017). The purpose here is not to define ‘home’ but acknowledge that while it is changeable by its various temporalities, network of actors and spatialities, ‘home’ is still individually and collectively negotiated and constructed in the context of each diasporic reality and its attachment to ‘roots’. Importantly, a shifting notion of ‘home’ affects the way members of diaspora relate to their attachments and ul-timately define themselves. Axel (2004:27) perceives diaspora as a ‘mobile ca-tegory’ of identification, encompassing different tem-poralities and characterised by networks connecting various micro-territories. In the ‘diasporic condition’ (Ang 2011), identity is both in one’s roots and the routes journeyed between places. Personal and shared remem-brances become a key component in travel, especially in journeys undertaken to what is identified as a formal/ancestral ‘home’, as in the Encontros, where diasporic identities are negotiated and group consciousness and social networks (re)created. While identities are felt and reworked in the pre-sent, diasporas tend to have a nostalgic relationship with ‘homeland’ (Sim & Leith 2013:260). In fact, the interplay between mobility, nostalgia and belonging is often understood as an underlying characteristic of the

Volume LVI • 17THE MACANESE ENCONTROS: REMEMBRANCE IN DIASPORA ‘HOMECOMINGS’homecoming phenomena, in parallel to the entwining of temporal dimensions of movement with geographical concepts of ‘here and there’ (Golob 2013:157). Nostal-gia, however, does not always entail return (Jansen & Löfving 2007:9), and having a ‘homing desire’ differs from wishing to visit, or even have, a ‘homeland’ (Brah 2005:177), a significant insight in the current unders-tanding of diaspora. Nevertheless, nostalgia can become a vehicle through which people without personal recol-lections of the ‘ancestral home’ establish a connection to places they have never seen. Those who return to this ‘home’ with personal memories might have to deal with the altered state of the remembered environment, the changes in its inhabitants (in comparison to how one remembered them), and the changes of the self. In what Marschall (2017:8) terms ‘the memory gaze’, they scru-tinize the former home, finding both contrasts with and affirmations of their remembrances.Diaspora ‘homecomings’, then, express a process of journeying and encountering, entailing the negotiation of relations to certain shared places; the (re)collecting, (re)making and (re)evaluating of memories and narra-tives; and the unfolding and shaping of social networks that bind the dispersed communities (Marschall 2017). But as Jansen and Löfving (2007) concluded, it is not whether people are able to go where ‘home’ is, but whe-ther there is, in the present, a connection and willing-ness to have a ‘homeland orientation’. This is vital for

18 • Colecção MosaicoMARIANA PINTO LEITÃO PEREIRAapproaching the Macanese diaspora, characterized for having multi-layered identity affiliations, as a dual roo-ts relationship is held both with Macau and Portugal, considered to be ancestral homes, while Hong Kong or Shanghai are described as ‘home’ for some; moreover, a third-level affiliation exists for these people’s descen-dants born in countries like Australia. The point is not ‘which is home for whom’, or ‘who was born where’, but to take as a baseline how Macau was chosen for the Encontros, as a mediating space for the multiple attach-ments that bring the dispersed communities together. From these attachments, it might be possible to reflect on what kind of relationship the migrants then establish with the mediating place.Considering such understanding of ‘homecomings’, the following section will present an analysis of the Casas’ newsletters, as they unfold the intricacies of the Encontros and the trips undertaken by hundreds of Macanese from different generations and, let us say, origins. The research shows Casas as major actors in organizing and defining the character of the homecomings, mediating the pro-cesses of identity and remembrances formation within what initially appear to be pilgrimages of nostalgia, but are in fact much more.

Volume LVI • 19THE MACANESE ENCONTROS: REMEMBRANCE IN DIASPORA ‘HOMECOMINGS’The Casas de MacauBefore 1999, the Casas were established with support from the Portuguese Government to strengthen the Ma-canese diasporic network outside of Macau. After the Handover, the associations were acknowledged by, and have received support from, the Chinese Government of Macau. The following list of associations, their establish-ment date and locations, reflects the dispersion of the Ma-canese communities: Hong Kong (Club Lusitano 1866), the United States of America (União Macaense Americana, 1959 – UMA; Casa de Macau Inc, 1995; Lusitano Club of California, 1984 – LC); Portugal, 1966 (CMPT); Cana-da (in Toronto, 1993 – CMT; the Macao Club, 1993; the Macau Cultural Association of Western Canada, 1989; in Vancouver, 1995 – CMV); Brazil (in Rio de Janeiro, 1991 – CMRJ; in São Paulo, 1989 – CMSP), Australia, 1990 (CMA); and in the United Kingdom, 2015 (Almei-da 2013). (References to the Casas’ newsletters below are identified by the acronyms provided here). Notwithstanding the Macanese elusive character and its multi-local origins, the overall guiding principles of membership acceptance to the Casas are the require-ments of either having been born in Macau or being of Macanese ancestry. Since their inception, the associa-tions have celebrated Macau as the diaspora’s roots; they

20 • Colecção MosaicoMARIANA PINTO LEITÃO PEREIRAstrive to safeguard, promote and foster interest in, and awareness of Macanese culture, heritage and history. All Casas’ mission statements, values and activities reflect not just how they mediate the fluidities of belonging and being, but also their contribution and effort to form and sustain group consciousness, while negotiating and fostering shared Macanese cultural references and me-mories (Augusto 2016; CMA, October 2013; CMA, website, 2017; CMPT, website, 2017; CMV, website, 2017; UMA, Spring 2008). The Casas implicitly defi-ne ‘Macaneseness’, a term previously employed by Koo (2004), as selected cultural aspects are re-enacted and constructed in the association’s context, both physically and in the members’ memories. Despite a somewhat specific structure, each associa-tion includes elected members of different generations, who volunteer to join the executive board or organizatio-nal team and are responsible for specific aspects such as the cultural section or the newsletters (Augusto 2016; LC, Winter 2013). Membership fees are due in all Casas, apart from the recently created one in the UK, and the collected funds are used for running the association and organizing activities. In some cases, foundations were established (e.g. in Portugal) to assure that donations and financial subsidies provided by private and public entities after the Handover, would be well managed and spent in suppor-ting the association and its members (e.g. in the form of bursaries) (CCM, Estatutos; Fundação CM, website).

Volume LVI • 21THE MACANESE ENCONTROS: REMEMBRANCE IN DIASPORA ‘HOMECOMINGS’One of these entities is the Macanese Communities Council (CCM), who is responsible, among other, for raising sponsorship for the Encontros, the most desirable and costly of organized activities taking place in Ma-cau. The partial funding, distributed to those attending the homecomings, derives not from membership fees, but instead an array of international and Macau-based sponsors (CMT, December 2003; CCM, Estatutos; Marques, 2017). The CCM was created in 2004 as an umbrella private institution that represents, in Macau, the interests of all Macanese communities, and serves as a supporting platform when dealing with the local Government of Macau or other associations. With its coordination and supervision, preparations for each ga-thering are made concurrently by the associations that it encompasses: in 2017, CCM included thirteen Casas and eight Macau-based entities, none of which consi-dered a ‘migrant’ association, but instead targeting the overall Macanese (CCM, Governing Bodies). Most significantly, being member of a Casa recogni-sed by the CCM became the baseline for eligibility to receive the specially allocated subsidies for the Encontro. The newsletters show that some participants joined the associations primarily to get the financial support for the homecoming, which prompted Casas to announce that subsidies would only be given to members paying subs-cription fees for the past two consecutive years (CMA, April 2013; CMT, March 2007; UMA, July-September

22 • Colecção MosaicoMARIANA PINTO LEITÃO PEREIRA2015). Since subsidies can increase depending on the events’ attendance levels, these became a reflection of the success of the Encontros themselves (Barbosa, De-cember 02, 2010). The associations gained a pivotal and somewhat governing role in organising the Encontros (CMV, July 2004). The homecomings, then, create the opportunity for the Casa leaders to personally meet with other CCM members, to make joint decisions and pre-pare for the next years of activities (CMA, April 2014; Marques 2017).In parallel to the CCM, other collaborators, such as Macau’s Tourism Office (MGTO), provides support at organizational and infrastructural levels, the Encontros being a way to promote Macau as a destination; while the Institute of Tourism Studies has been involved in organizing many events, mainly related to Macanese culture and gastronomy (CMA, Winter 2008; CCM, 2016; UMA, Winter 2010). The Casas themselves are expected to promote Macau at touristic, economic and entrepreneurial levels in the countries where they are established, justifying part of the financial support pro-vided by the government (Pereira 2007:21). The event is certainly significant for the local tourism industry, as hundreds of people must be accommodated, even some of those with family in Macau, preferring to stay in hotels for various reasons (Anonymous B, 2016). Apart from the accommodation providers, revenue is moreo-ver generated through catering services and transport

Volume LVI • 23THE MACANESE ENCONTROS: REMEMBRANCE IN DIASPORA ‘HOMECOMINGS’companies, but the comprehensive impact the Encontros and Youth Encontros have on an already highly touristic city is still to be determined. The Encontros of the Macanese CommunitiesThe first Encontro, whose mentor was the Macane-se Lourenço da Conceição, himself a migrant (Pereira 2010a), happened on 1 November 1993, with official support from the Portuguese Government. Subsequent gatherings occurred in 1996, 1999, 2001 and then every three years thereafter, the next one being planned for 2019. Since 2009, Youth Encontros have been taken pla-ce triennially under more specific conditions than the general Encontros, to target the Casas’ young members. Overall, all Encontros last almost one week and are an intense combination of sponsored organized activities, such as debates on identity, history, genealogy and lan-guage; book launches; guided tours; Catholic masses; cultural performances and, most of all, opportunities to socialize and refresh memories. At the centre lies Ma-cau, a physical space, for many associated with personal memories; or an imagined and symbolic one, created

24 • Colecção MosaicoMARIANA PINTO LEITÃO PEREIRAthrough descriptions, shared narratives of belonging and being, as with so many other host-country born members of diasporas (e.g. Tie, Holden & Park 2015), and – importantly – narratives perpetuated through the activities of the associations.With the kind permission from Side Effects Productions (SIDEFX) and it’s author Bruno Ritchie

Volume LVI • 25THE MACANESE ENCONTROS: REMEMBRANCE IN DIASPORA ‘HOMECOMINGS’Staging the Encontros along similar configurations, while also offering some novelties, was the result of several decisions that structured the homecomings e.g. to always take place towards the end of the year; las-ting no more than eight days; with all meals, and some shows, being provided free of charge (CMV, December 2000; CMV, July 2001). Typically, participants with identifying badges are taken around to presentations and performances prepared jointly by the associations in Macau and the Casas; guided tours to historical places are on offer, as well as book launches or homa-ges to relevant figures in the community. During the Encontros, multilingual groups of people with diverse physical features can be seen excitedly strolling in the streets, recalling lost places and finding known faces (LC, Winter 2013).The largest participating groups usually come from the USA, Canada and Australia, in compari-son to Brazil, Portugal or Hong Kong. Between 1993 and 1996, the number of participants doubled (circa 600 and 1200 respectively), and from hence onwards the number fluctuated around 1500 (UMA, Winter 2007). However, not all members of the Casas join the homecoming. For instance, in April 2017, the Casa in Toronto registered 213 membership renewals, but only 60 travelled to Macau for the 2016 Encontro (CMT, June 2017). Although there is not necessarily a direct correlation between identity and the frequency of ‘ho-

26 • Colecção MosaicoMARIANA PINTO LEITÃO PEREIRAmecoming’ trips (Sim & Leith 2013), the attendance rate of participants from Hong Kong (e.g. 44 in 2010; Pereira 2010b), a city not even one hour away by boat, raises the question of how one’s distance from ‘home’ influences people’s identity, decision about joining migrant associations and homecoming events. The contextual experiences created in the Encontro, the so-cial bonding, sense of belonging, nostalgia and shared stories (Almeida 2013:17; LC, Summer 2012), might become relevant enough to justify the presence of tho-se living close. In fact, whereas the homecomings were devised to target the diaspora, there appears to be rising participa-tion by ‘locals’, those residing in Macau. For instance, 894 diaspora-based participants versus 646 locals were recorded in 2016 (Almeida 2016), although the figure only reflects residency, not whether these ‘locals’ con-sider themselves Macanese. It also does not distinguish people who continued to be part of a migrant associa-tion even after having ‘moved back’ to Macau, and who join the Encontros through their diasporic Casa, not least perhaps to access the associated financial advanta-ges. As mentioned earlier, most Macau-based Macanese, on the contrary, appear to have little contact with the homecomings, unless they are involved in organizing or attending specific activities. In a similar way to Sim and Leith’s (2013) research on Scottish homecomings, Macanese homecomings appear to be more about con-

Volume LVI • 27THE MACANESE ENCONTROS: REMEMBRANCE IN DIASPORA ‘HOMECOMINGS’necting the diaspora with Macau, than connecting with local Macanese. For those in the diaspora who cannot attend, most of what is debated during the conferences and events remains largely unknown, except for basic newspaper coverage or sporadic comments through the newsletters. The impact that the gatherings have on the local population or the wider diaspora community is largely undocumented. The same applies to the extent of contact between diaspora participants and locals, in-cluding the frequency of meetings and activities with family or friends outside the events.Most participants join the Encontros in the context of the Casas, rarely on their own initiative. Some Macanese travel to Macau outside the Encontros, as for them the associations and the concept of diasporic community are not primary motivators. Little information is available about these travellers, mostly because of the difficulty in identifying them based on their nationality or immigra-tion status. The structure of the triennial events, thou-gh, offers many advantages in terms of transportation, accommodation, participation in subsidized activities and possibilities of meeting others from the community. Participants also have high expectations regarding the individual events and the overall success of the gathe-ring, since their aim is usually to enjoy Macau and be with fellows (CMT, December 2004).Concerns surrounding the definition of Macane-se identity, the relations between the various diasporic

28 • Colecção MosaicoMARIANA PINTO LEITÃO PEREIRAcommunities, and between the diaspora and Macau-ba-sed Macanese are some of the aspects debated during these Encontros. The endangered language Patuá, music, religion and gastronomy form focal points for workshops and various events, all of which contribute to construc-ting these cultural expressions as common traits that unite the Macanese dispersed in diaspora. Moreover, the gatherings are opportunities for the Casas to show-case their involvement and vitality in safeguarding their concept of Macanese culture, while local organizations and institutions take the opportunity to solidify relations with the diaspora associations, establishing agreements of cooperation, exchange, and joint projects (CMT, Fe-bruary 2007; Rangel 2006:26). Participants represent themselves and the Casa they belong to, which essentially means that the Casas expect these members to join all the Encontro’s events. Nevertheless, some ‘homecomers’ wander in search of their own places of memory and childhood, ending up skipping the scheduled program-me (Anonymous C, 2016; CMA, March 2007).

Volume LVI • 29THE MACANESE ENCONTROS: REMEMBRANCE IN DIASPORA ‘HOMECOMINGS’Narratives of the EncontrosWritten testimonies share the general view that the Encontros are “… a kind of pilgrimage ... a chance to reaffirm … identity as Macanese and re-establish links ...” (UMA, Winter 2010), especially through the encounter with friends and relatives. Symbolically charged events and ritualistic actions – e.g. the tradi-tional group photo on the iconic Ruins of St. Paul’s stairway or placing flowers on the Monument to the Macanese Diaspora in Macau - show how the gathe-rings (re)confirm the connection between the diaspora and Macau and become a platform for defining and affirming ‘Macaneseness’. Inaugurated in 2004, the monument moreover represents an official acceptance of the Macanese community and its diaspora on behalf of the Chinese Government of Macau (LC, Fall 2013; Pereira 2007:21).Debates and decision-making about matters concer-ning the Macanese communities and the diaspora are purposefully planned to coincide with the gatherings. For instance, in the 1996 Encontro, representatives in a deliberation on identity made the significant deci-sion to accept those born outside of Macau as being Macanese. In July 2000, following the Handover, the presidents of the recognised Casas at the time met in

30 • Colecção MosaicoMARIANA PINTO LEITÃO PEREIRAPortugal, confirming their close ties with that country and the uncertainties of where the diasporic commu-nity could root itself. Among the topics for discussion was the definition or affirmation of who could be con-sidered Macanese, now understood as either someone born in Macau or in the diaspora, but also anyone de-siring or aspiring to be Macanese (CMV, July 2000). By clarifying this position anew, the message was that Macau’s new political status would not mean the end of the Macanese communities. Place-bound identities were thus re-shaped and reaffirmed as part of a multi--local diaspora, even though the significance of Macau for those born elsewhere can be ambivalent. An expression of this multi-locality are the optional pre- or post-Encontro trips that some Casas began orga-nizing to Hong Kong, Shanghai or other Asian places with ties to the Macanese diaspora (UMA, Summer 2010). Referred to as “pre- or post-reunion tours” by the Casa in Australia (CMA, March 2007), the newsletters provide little explanation about the choice of these des-tinations. Hong Kong and Shanghai are the birth place of many Macanese in diaspora, but these tours do not appear to entail such emotionally charged activities as revisiting places related to one’s past. An exception are perhaps the socializing events at the Club Recreio, a Portuguese association in Hong Kong, which was fre-quented by many Macanese around the period of the Second World War (UMA, Winter 2013).

Volume LVI • 31THE MACANESE ENCONTROS: REMEMBRANCE IN DIASPORA ‘HOMECOMINGS’Attachments are differently experienced during the Encontros, depending on the participants’ own situation: as mentioned earlier, some visit Macau for the first time; others return after long absences; yet others routinely come to Macau but organize their trips to coincide with the triennial gatherings (Anonymous A, 2016). Partici-pants describe missing Macau when living far away, but when in Macau, their country of residence becomes a place of belonging, based on comparisons induced by the visit (Anonymous A, 2016). Recent urban develop-ments in Macau render familiarity even more challen-ging. A fondly remembered or imagined Macau clashes with its current physical appearance witnessed during the Encontro, with the disappearance of “places and buildings of my memory” in the name of development (CMA, July 2011). In the context of the 2007 Encontro, some participants described the experience not as revi-siting Macau, but as getting to know the new Macau, albeit with the past remaining present through legacy and heritage (Pereira 2007:21). Changed geographies are commonly addressed in the newsletters, accompanied by feelings of sadness, grief and astonishment, and for some, the memories of a past Macau create greater ‘homesickness’. As a coping mechanism, past geosocial references, such as the place where someone’s old house was, are used for orientation in arranging meetings and understanding where venues are during the Encontros. Macau also becomes synony-

32 • Colecção MosaicoMARIANA PINTO LEITÃO PEREIRAmous with its people, implying that Macau can be wherever Macanese people are. Encountering familiar faces in Macau, even mere acquaintances, is described as one of the most significant moments of all Encontros, creating a diasporic intimacy. As Boym (2001:245) ob-served, such encounters lead participants to recognise and (re)connect with one another, something which in other contexts or under different circumstances would likely have a far less meaningful impact. Participants who failed to have such experiences ex-pressed sentiments of disappointment and loneliness, a lack of purpose in visiting Macau. Moreover, the physical changes in the place of origin may be percei-ved as so profound and the rupture felt so deeply that some can only make connection with selected cultural elements, such as the local food. Some participants confessed not wanting to return, because Macau had nothing to do with them anymore (Almeida 2013:4; Diniz, December 6, 2013; Doré, Almeida & Moura 2001:267, 278-280, 284; Gaspar 2015:222). Such sentiments - migrants travelling to their ‘home’ and finding that it has changed too dramatically to still be ‘theirs’ – are of course far from unique to the Macanese community (Graburn 2017:270).

Volume LVI • 33THE MACANESE ENCONTROS: REMEMBRANCE IN DIASPORA ‘HOMECOMINGS’The Youth EncontrosThe relationship to Macau is felt very differently be-tween those who were born or had lived there, and the descendant generations, who are visiting the city for the first time. Some insights on the perceptions of the latter is provided from the recently created Youth Encontros,

34 • Colecção MosaicoMARIANA PINTO LEITÃO PEREIRAorganized by the CCM and the Macau-based Macanese Youth Association. While structurally resembling the main Encontros, the Youth gatherings are focused on presenting to the younger members of the associations what are considered core traits of Macanese identity. Carefully chosen events, speeches and workshops provi-de the best of Macau’s cultural heritage, while also fea-turing modern developments and future projects. They are organized to show how traditions can be carried out and ties to Macanese culture can be strengthened in the diaspora, through the diasporic associations (UMA, Summer 2012). In this context, the Casas are indispensable. In the pre-Youth Encontro stage, young participants who would like to join must send an application letter to their Casa, guarantee their participation in all activities organized while in Macau, and submit a report upon return from the gathering. This process, which does not apply to the normal Encontros, is justified because accommodation and airfares are totally covered for three young repre-sentatives from each Casa. It is meant to be an incentive for the younger generations to get involved with the mi-grant associations and deepen their sense of ‘Macanese-ness’ (CMA, December 2009; CMT, September 2007). Of course, anyone paying for their own trip and fitting the category of ‘young’ is most welcome to join. In 2015, the criteria to apply for funding were age (between 18 and 35), being of Macanese descent, or being a voting

Volume LVI • 35THE MACANESE ENCONTROS: REMEMBRANCE IN DIASPORA ‘HOMECOMINGS’member for a period determined by each Casa (CMA, April 2015). The Casa in Portugal announced that the selected youths would also have to reside permanently in Portugal and have Portuguese nationality (CMPT, February 2009). Members who apply, however, are not necessarily limited to second, third or fourth migrant-descendant generations living in diaspora. Young Macanese who were born in Macau, but left in their teens, can become part of a Casa while living or studying abroad, and po-tentially receive funding from there to join the Youth Encontros (Anonymous C, 2016). Still, for the majority, the experience of the Youth gatherings is quite different from that of the general Encontros, as the focus is really on those who have no attachments or social networks in Macau. While Youth Encontros are a way to meet other young people from the Macanese diaspora, all events are carefully designed to provide experiences and contacts that pave the way to take an interest in the future of the associations and of the dispersed communities themsel-ves (CMT, January 2014). The Casas, older members of the community and even previous participants of the Encontros play a role in disseminating certain narrati-ves and images of Macau, exposing the youth to what Macau ‘really is’ and hence create expectations of the place before the young members embark on their trips. As one youth participant summed up: “Not having ever participated in an Encontro, I was very curious to learn

36 • Colecção MosaicoMARIANA PINTO LEITÃO PEREIRAwhat all the talk was about …, why the word ‘Encontro’ seemed all mystical” (CMT, December 2015; CMV, May 2013).A constructed notion of Macau is hence created in the context of the associations; Macau is presented as the root of one’s identity, the place where one can experience “...what [it] is like to truly be Macanese...”

Volume LVI • 37THE MACANESE ENCONTROS: REMEMBRANCE IN DIASPORA ‘HOMECOMINGS’(LC, Winter-Spring 2008). Genealogy is a significant element here; it confirms the ancestry of those attending and is enhanced through acknowledgement by other participants, most especially when meeting previously unknown relatives (CMV, May 2013; UMA Winter 2007). For many of the youth participants, the place of their ancestors’ roots is both an unknown, new and yet somewhat familiar destination. They hold an idea-lised image based on photos and the older generation’s personal memories, but they can experience a sense of discomfort when their visit reveals divergence from how they have pictured the place (Doré, et al, 2001:286). In the Youth Encontros, much attention is thus paid to actively crafting the participants’ experiences, as opposed to the normal Encontros, which rely on provi-ding contexts where members create their own experien-ces and remembrances. What participants encounter is important to all these diasporic gatherings, but the goal of the Youth Encontros is more specifically to encourage the formation and refreshing of memories based on per-sonal experiences; for family stories to be reaffirmed and attachments created to places previously only known through mediated sources. Most significant is for youn-gsters to confirm their Macanese identity, reassure them about their fitting in with a dispersed (imagined) com-munity, and realize their own role in the migrant asso-ciation they represent (CMT, July 2012; see also Huang, Norman & Ramshaw 2016; LC, Fall 2009).

In 2009, during the youth plenary session, par-ticipants gathered to discuss issues faced by young Macanese in the diaspora. Some of the addressed key points focused on improving the Casas’ activities, com-munication, and the direct relationship between the associations’ youths with Macau (Silva, Ribeiro, Reid & Narciso, 2009:6). Casas and the CCM expect youth representatives to help define, in their own way, the mission and values of the Casas, and devise governance models in which youths can have a voice. The expe-riences of the Encontro are used to improve the func-tioning of each association and contribute to its aims, justifying the very membership of the youths (CMT, June 2009 and September 2011). The local government in Macau has shown enthu-siasm for the Encontros in general and has especially involved itself in the Youth Encontros. Both for Macau and for China, these young members might develop a professional interest in the region, representing a future potential for enhancing the role of Macau and contri-bute to China’s development, both nationally and inter-nationally. The fact that the youths represent sources of expertise, with the capacity to connect to the local Ma-canese, and are in theory able to adapt more easily to the society in Macau, has also been acknowledged by the diaspora itself. It is not only the link to their ancestor’s place of origin, but also the branding of Macau as a land of business opportunities, that is strategically mobilized MARIANA PINTO LEITÃO PEREIRA38 • Colecção Mosaico

to draw these youths’ attention in carefully structured plenary sessions and roundtables within the Youth En-contros (Almeida 2012; CMA, December 2009; CMT, July 2012; UMA, July-September, 2015). Upon returning to their country of birth or resi-dence, youth representatives are greeted with much hope and perceived as ambassadors for the diaspora’s opportunities in the future. The gatherings are catalys-ts in this process and an invaluable personal experience benefiting both the participants and the Casas (CMV, May 2010). Individual accounts of what happens after the Encontro have not been collected for this research, but one of the testimonies in the association newslet-ters described how a youth representative from UMA decided to return to Macau for a whole year to con-duct research and learn Portuguese (UMA, Fall 2009). This is very exceptional, as few participants of both types of Encontros consider moving to Macau, having established a family abroad and adapted to their new livelihoods (Diniz, December 4, 2013).THE MACANESE ENCONTROS: REMEMBRANCE IN DIASPORA ‘HOMECOMINGS’Volume LVI • 39

40 • Colecção MosaicoMARIANA PINTO LEITÃO PEREIRATrends for the future Whereas the Encontro is an appealing event, associa-ted with sponsored travel, excitement, encounters and entertainment, joining the associations and participating in their regular activities is a very different matter. The difficulty in attracting members, especially youths, and to motivate them to become active, is a constant topic of concern for most Casas (CMT, December 2003). The Encontros are also only attended by a portion of the general membership, on account of time constraints or financial difficulties. For instance, about one third of the members of the Lusitano Club went to the 2016 En-contro (LC, website 2017; LC, Winter 2016). This Club is known for having some of the highest participation levels. Its focus lies on events specially targeting youngs-ters and organizing family-based functions, i.e. creating contexts in which Macanese heritage and cultural cha-racteristics (e.g. food or language) form an integral part of the activities (LC, Winter 2013). Conversely, in the União Macaense Americana, it appears that membership amongst the younger members is not really sought for its social networking character, but for deepening knowle-dge on one’s ancestry, stories and Macanese identity and culture (UMA, Fall 2007). Joining the Encontros could be the consequence of an existing curiosity instilled by

Volume LVI • 41THE MACANESE ENCONTROS: REMEMBRANCE IN DIASPORA ‘HOMECOMINGS’the family and the Casas, and potentially the beginning of a deeper interest in the associations, given the sense of belonging that the gatherings engender (CMT, Septem-ber 2011; UMA, July-September 2015). If the older generations are the carriers of knowledge and memories of the past, and the younger members

42 • Colecção MosaicoMARIANA PINTO LEITÃO PEREIRArepresent the future, it is understandable why in 2012 the three Casas in the USA proposed that both types of Encontros should be organized in parallel, hence creating opportunities for the stories told in the diaspora to be contextualized. So far, this step has not yet been taken. The presidents of the Casas noted that many youths have in fact shown an interest in joining the Youth Encontros but had to be excluded due to limited subsidies (UMA, Winter 2012). Perhaps bringing these younger members into the general Encontros would ease the fatalistic re-ferences to the disappearance of the community, and loss of its culture, given the reduced involvement of the younger generation. The notion that the Macanese are in extinction has been voiced elsewhere (e.g. Carvalho 2015), yet some rather see this as an identity adaptation to current times and changed circumstances. Curiously, in the newsletters, a complex intergenera-tional dialogue is brought to the surface. While the older generation generally perceives that the future of Macau and Macanese identity is dim, members of the younger generation exhibit a range of divergent responses. Some are completely disinterested; others are aware of their responsibility to be actively involved (with their family’s support) and may even complain about not being able to do more (Augusto 2016: 77; LC, Fall 2009; LC, Win-ter 2013). However, what transpires widely across the community is the sense of losing the collective cultural identity. This can be observed both in Macau, where

Volume LVI • 43THE MACANESE ENCONTROS: REMEMBRANCE IN DIASPORA ‘HOMECOMINGS’this identity is undergoing a metamorphosis due to the changed socio-political situation, and in the diaspora, where descendants want to blend in cultural aspects of their own country of birth. Clearly the issue is primarily one of mentality and not lack of support, as we have seen that funding is provided by various sources, including the Chinese Government (see Unknown, 2010; UMA, April-June 2016). Meanwhile, a most recent event may show a change in the way the Casas further negotiate the notion of dias-pora. The first International Youth Encontro, which took place from 13-20 August 2017, in San Francisco (USA), was solely organized and partially funded by the Lusitano Club of California, targeting young Macanese adults over 21 (LC, Fall 2017). According to one of the participants (Participant A, email correspondence), any young Maca-nese, not necessarily related to an association, could have joined. This, in itself, was quite a significant decision, possibly opening the path for Macanese non-affiliated with associations to be integrated in some of the events. An important emphasis was given in the newsletter when describing the purpose of this gathering: “… to learn more about our unique Portuguese Macanese heritage …” (LC, Fall 2017:2). Identifying this heritage within the context of a gathering that was not organized in any of the spaces considered to be an ‘ancestral home’ or ‘place of origin’ is quite significant for a diaspora that is characterized as having multi-local roots.

44 • Colecção MosaicoMARIANA PINTO LEITÃO PEREIRAParticipants included representatives from the three Casas in the USA, as well as some young adults from Macau and Portugal. The aim of what the organizers call a ‘mini Encontro’ (LC, Fall 2017:12) was to create a precedence and encourage other Casas to organize si-milar events for the young Macanese outside of Macau to meet, a strategy in which the associations can assume a more central role in supporting and strengthening the diasporic network and identity, as well as intercon-necting various pockets of the diasporic community. Beyond the logistical reasons prompting the decentra-lization, one may interpret this decision (especially if sustained in the future) as a significant symbolic gesture that tells us much about perceptions of roots, home and the future of Macanese identity in the diaspora.Discussion and final remarksCompared to individually arranged types of diaspo-ric ‘return’ travel, typically centred on visiting significant sites and social relations, the Encontros of the Macanese diaspora resemble in many ways the organized homeco-ming tours of other diasporas discussed in the scholarly literature. For instance, they are based on a sense of

Volume LVI • 45THE MACANESE ENCONTROS: REMEMBRANCE IN DIASPORA ‘HOMECOMINGS’nostalgia and a quest for identity and belonging; they are focused on visceral, emotional experiences of home/land; and they include highly symbolic and ritualistic performances. This paper, however, has also illustrated how the Macanese Encontros are different from other case studies. Perhaps the most unique characteristic is that they bring together participants with triple or more identity affiliations. Unlike other homecomings that involve dis-persed members of diaspora identifying partly with their country of residence and partly with one specific place of origin, the Macanese ultimately descend from two ancestral ‘places of origin’ (Portugal and Macau), and possess more complex and multiple identity affiliations. Other distinguishing features are the fundamental change of the socio-political landscape in Macau and the fact that the Encontros have received continuous governmental support from two different states: the Portuguese, before 1999, and the Chinese Government, following the Handover. The change of political status caused notions of belonging to tremble, but this was surpassed by reassurances of new possibilities and gover-nmental support, which so far have indeed continued. The diaspora’s acceptance and adaptation to Macau’s new position may be reciprocal to this support and to the new Government’s acknowledgment of the commu-nity’s importance and connection to Macau.The paper has moreover highlighted the exceptio-

46 • Colecção MosaicoMARIANA PINTO LEITÃO PEREIRAnally powerful role played by the Casas, whose activities construct contexts for sharing and (re)working memories of Macau, as well as placing certain fluid cultural traits, notably language and gastronomy, as bonding elements at the core of ‘Macaneseness’. Most important among these activities are the Encontros and understandings of ‘roots’, irrespective of whether or not Macau is one’s place of origin, which are gained through personal and recounted homecoming experiences. These are partly staged by the organizers, who seize the opportunity to showcase how they safeguard Macanese traditions and cultural identity. The newsletters contain a variety of accounts that express multifarious experiences at the homecoming events. They emphasize the central role of memory and its sharing and revival as the condition for the community’s continuity; genealogies and family stories; feelings of connection, identity reaffirmations and cultural (re)encounters; and the challenges in fin-ding one’s place within the community, the migrant associations and sometimes one’s sense of belonging. These narratives ripple back to the Casas when members return from the gathering and are then included in stra-tegies for perpetuating and affirming the community’s cultural and social features, which in turn influence the organization of the next Encontro. Despite the difficulty in separating different genera-tions of Encontro participants (based on the methodo-logy of the current research), some relevant distinctions

Volume LVI • 47THE MACANESE ENCONTROS: REMEMBRANCE IN DIASPORA ‘HOMECOMINGS’were noted. For first-generation emigrés, or those who lived in Macau and created their own first-hand nar-ratives, the multifaceted well-structured and carefully planned one-week gatherings provide opportunities for re-encountering what was once familiar, and recapture, confirm, or challenge one’s memories of Macau and per-ceptions of themselves and others as Macanese. These are the foundations for revisiting and for greater emo-tional attachments or disappointments to be felt. The gathering embodies the epitome of a nostalgic return, of an event to be remembered, but also sometimes of an experience not to be repeated, due to expectations not being met. While the Encontros have become a social obligation for some, others do not feel the need to go back. Besides the Handover, the decreasing chance of meeting familiar people, the disappearance of common-ly known places and changes in the urban landscape distinguish the Macau of the present with personal me-mories of the past. Those who have never lived in Macau take home-comings as an opportunity to build their personal re-lationship; create experiences to be remembered; and to confirm or rework their images of ‘Macau as roots’, derived from the stories of parents and activities of the Casas. This is especially seen in the Youth Encontros: whereas the general Encontros provide a context for the participant’s memories and ‘Macaneseness’ to be reas-serted, ‘re-lived’ and even updated, the Youth Encontros

48 • Colecção MosaicoMARIANA PINTO LEITÃO PEREIRAare focused on identifying and presenting core traits and narratives of being Macanese to those with little or no personal memories of Macau. While the general En-contros focus on Macau as ‘roots in the present’ and on connecting participants with past experiences and me-mories, in the Youth Encontros, the past and its heritage are presented as incentives for the future and Macau is branded a place of opportunities.Among youth participants are feelings and a sense of belonging shaped before the trip, partly by the Casas, which are then affirmed during the homecomings – not least perhaps because there is a certain expectation to feel them. What is remembered of the Youth Encontro’s experience is then re-enacted in the associations when participants return, a kind of reassurance of the belon-ging, which is expressed in the reports submitted as a pre-condition for the fully paid event trip – again diver-ging from general Encontros, where participants do not have to share their experiences with the Casas. Despite drawbacks and challenges, the Macanese ho-mecoming events are still regarded as important. Howe-ver, the first international Youth Encontro organized in San Francisco also indicates the potential for different future directions. It will be interesting to see how future events will shape the ‘longing’ and nostalgic discourses centred on Macau and how this will influence the dias-pora’s perceptions of its own multi-rootedness. Lastly, this paper has also highlighted a number of unanswered

Volume LVI • 49THE MACANESE ENCONTROS: REMEMBRANCE IN DIASPORA ‘HOMECOMINGS’questions and shown that the Encontros and their local and diasporic impacts are yet to be fully understood. Empirical research based on interviews or other quali-tative methods would need to be conducted to explore in depth how the Encontros influence participants’ rela-tionship with Macau, their sense of diasporic belonging and various other dimensions of the homecomings that could not be assessed through the methodology of this research. “...To the Macau of today, of yesterday, of forever...” (Almeida 2013:3)

Volume LVI • 51THE MACANESE ENCONTROS: REMEMBRANCE IN DIASPORA ‘HOMECOMINGS’ReferencesAlmeida, F. (2012). Jovens macaenses descobrem terra de opor-tunidades. Jornal Tribuna de Macau, [online] April 11. Available at: http://arquivo.jtm.com.mo/view.asp?dT=400303010 [Accessed 18 June, 2017]Almeida, H. (2013). Cuza ta fazer!?! Encontro 2013 reúne Ma-caenses de todo o mundo. Jornal Tribuna de Macau, [online], De-cember 12. Available at: http://jtm.com.mo/record/2013/12Dec/Revista%20Encontro%20Macaenses%202013.pdf [Accessed 18 June, 2017]Almeida, I. (2016). Um encontro “vivido por cada um à sua ma-neira”. Jornal Tribuna de Macau, [online], November 25. Available at: http://jtm.com.mo/local/um-encontro-vivido-por-cada-um-a-sua-maneira/ [Accessed 17 June, 2017]Ang, I. (2011). Unsettling the national: Heritage and diaspora. In H. Anheier, & Y., R. Isar, ed., Heritage, Memory & Identity. 1st. ed. Great Britain: Sage, 82-94. Anonymous A & Anonymous B & Anonymous C (2016). Oral testimonies, November 30. Encontro 2016, Macau.Arnone, A. (2017). Returning, imagining and recreating home from the diaspora: Tourism narratives of the Eritrean diaspora in Italy. In. S. Marschall, ed., Tourism and Memories of Home: Migrants, Displaced People, Exiles and Diasporic Communities. 1st. ed. Bristol: Channel View Publications, 156-177.Augusto, P. (2016). As Festas da Casa de Macau do Rio de Janeiro. Macau: Instituto Internacional de Macau, Real Gabinete Portu-guês de Leitura.

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54 • Colecção MosaicoMARIANA PINTO LEITÃO PEREIRAJornal Tribuna de Macau, [online], December 6. Available at: http://jtm.com.mo/especiais-jtm-column/encontros-macaens-es-2013/a-fe-e-inabalavel-na-comunidade-macaense/ [Accessed 13 June, 2017]Doré, A. & Almeida, A. & Moura, C. (2001). Macau somos nós: Um mosaico da memória dos Macaenses no Rio de Janeiro. Macau: Instituto Internacional de Macau.Fundação Casa de Macau (CM) Apresentação. [online]. Available at: http://www.fundacaocasamacau.org/historia_dois.html# [Ac-cessed 12 June, 2017]Gaspar, M. (2015). No tempo do Bambu. Identidade e Ambivalên-cia entre Macaenses. Lisboa: Instituto do Oriente.Golob, T. (2013). Imagining a home in a world of flux: Challeng-ing individualisation and transnational belongins. Polish Sociolog-ical Review, 182, 153-163.Graburn, N. (2017) Epilogue: Home, travel, memory and an-thropology. In S. Marschall, ed., Tourism and Memories of Home: Migrants, Displaced People, Exiles and Diasporic Communities. 1st.ed. Bristol: Channel View Publications, 268-281.Huang, W. & Norman, W. & Ramshaw, G. (2016). Homecom-ing or tourism? Diaspora Tourism experience of second-genera-tion immigrants. Tourism Geographies, 18 (1), 59-79.Iorio, M. & Corsale, A. (2013). Diaspora and tourism: Transyl-vanian Saxons visiting the homeland. Tourism Geographies, 15 (2), 198-232. Iorio, M. & Corsale, A. (2017). Travelling to the homeland over a double diaspora: Memory, landscape and sense of belonging. Insights from Transylvanian Saxons. In S. Marschall, ed., Tourism and Memories of Home: Migrants, Displaced People, Exiles and Di-

Volume LVI • 55THE MACANESE ENCONTROS: REMEMBRANCE IN DIASPORA ‘HOMECOMINGS’asporic Communities. 1st.ed. Bristol: Channel View Publications, 178-198.Jansen, S. & Löfving, S. (2007) Introduction: Movement, violence, and the making of home. European Journal of Anthropology, 49, 3-14Koo, B. (2004). The survival of an endangered species: the Macanese in contemporary Macau. Sydney: University of Western Sydney.Lusitano Club of California (LC). (2017). Lusitano Club of California. A Casa de Macau. [online]. Available at: http://www.lusitanousa.org/ [Accessed 12 June, 2017]Lusitano Club of California (LC) Buletins. [online]. Newsletters available at: http://www.lusitanousa.org/bulletins/ [Accessed 11 June, 2017]Marques, J. (2017). Interview, February 29. Macau.Marschall, S. (2017). Tourism and memories of home: Introduc-tion. In S. Marschall, ed., Tourism and Memories of Home: Mi-grants, Displaced People, Exiles and Diasporic Communities. 1st.ed. Bristol: Channel View Publications, 1-31Participant A. (2017). Email correspondence, October 28.Pereira, L. (2007). A grande festa. Revista Macau, [online], 9, 16-24. Available at: https://issuu.com/revista-macau/docs/rm_is-sue_09/6?ff=true [Accessed 12 June, 2017]Pereira, O. (2010a). A génese das reuniões da “família” macaense. Jornal Tribuna de Macau, [online], November 27. Available at: http://arquivo.jtm.com.mo/view.asp?dT=367103012 [Accessed 13 June, 2017]Pereira, O. (2010b). Casas dos EUA com presença em peso. Jornal Tribuna de Macau, [online], November 27. Available at: http://arqui-vo.jtm.com.mo/view.asp?dT=362103000 [Accessed 14 June, 2017]

56 • Colecção MosaicoMARIANA PINTO LEITÃO PEREIRAPortuguese Migration Observatory (PMO). (2017). China-Ma-cau. [online]. Available at: http://observatorioemigracao.pt/np4/paises.html?id=147 [Accessed 13 November, 2017]Rangel, J. (2006). Falar de nós – II. Macau e a comunidade Ma-caense – acontecimentos, personalidades, instituições, diáspora, lega-do e futuro. Macau: International Institute of Macau Silva, K. & Ribeiro, C. & Reid, T. & Narciso, S. (2009). Re-port: Encontro da Comunidade Juvenil Macaense. Casa de Macau Australia [online]. Available at: http://www.casademacau.org.au/news/newsdocs/YouthEncontroJul09%20Report.pdf [Accessed 13 June, 2017]Sim, D. & Leith, M. (2013). Diaspora tourists and the Scottish Homecoming 2009. Journal of Heritage Tourism, 8 (4), 259-274. Statistics and Census Service (SCS). (2016). By-Census. [online]. Available at: http://www.dsec.gov.mo/Statistic.aspx?NodeGuid=ee77eb29-fd1b-4f13-8a2d-3181e93adb05 [Accessed 31 October, 2017]Tie, C. & Holden, A. & Park, H. (2015). A ‘reality of return’: The case of the Sarawakian-Chinese visiting China. Tourism Manage-ment, 47, 206-212. União Macaense Americana (UMA) Bulletins, [online]. News-letters available at: http://www.uma-casademacau.com/index.php/bulletins/ [Accessed 11 June, 2017]Unknown. (2010). Nova geração deve ter “mais arrojo”. Jornal Tri-buna de Macau / Lusa. November 29. Available at: http://arquivo.jtm.com.mo/view.asp?dT=362203004. [Accessed 18 June, 2017]Weingrod, A. & Levy, A. (2006). Social thought and commen-tary: Paradoxes of homecoming: The Jews and their diasporas. Anthropological Quarterly, 79 (4), 691-716

Volume LVI • 57THE MACANESE ENCONTROS: REMEMBRANCE IN DIASPORA ‘HOMECOMINGS’BiographyMariana Pinto Leitão Pereira was born in Macau in 1987. Raised in the Macau until 2001, Mariana and her family moved to Porto, in Portugal, shortly after the Handover of the territory to China. There, she undertook her BA and first MA in Archaeology. With the intention of broadening her expertise, Mariana pursued a sec-ond MA in World Heritage Studies at the Brandenburg Univer-sity of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg, in Germany. Her thesis research led her to the Kingdom of Bahrain, where she focused on community involvement in the nomination of archaeological sites as World Heritage. Upon completion, Mariana worked as an archaeologist and heritage expert in her hometown Macau, where she assisted, among other tasks, in managing the World Heritage site, nominating cultural expressions for the local heritage list and giving guided tours. In 2017 she was accepted as a student at the University of Cambridge, in the United Kingdom, where she completed her third MPhil in Archaeological Heritage and Mu-seums. Her thesis explored the distinction between movable and immovable heritage. Currently, Mariana is a PhD candidate and is addressing how dispersed communities use cultural heritage to express self- and group identity. * This paper has been reproduced with permission of Routledge through PLSclear