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Paper short abstract:

Intramuros, Manila, is an excellent example of a historic urban landscape which for many triggers negative emotions. Taking as a point of departure the attempts at forgetting, reconstructing, and gentrifying it, the paper will discuss the politics of heritage and affect in today’s Manila.

Paper long abstract:

The Old City of Intramuros, Manila, is an excellent example of problematic or unwanted heritage, a historic urban landscape which for many triggers negative emotions. The perception of it may vary among different groups: from shame and contempt towards Spanish colonization, through sadness and trauma connected to the killings of World War II, and finally to anger and fear because of forced evictions.

Taking as a point of departure the attempts at, subsequently, forgetting, reconstructing, commercializing, and gentrifying Intramuros, the paper will discuss the politics of heritage in today’s Manila and how it is shaped by affects. Taken into account will be the experiences of different actors living and working together in the area - informal settlers, business owners, students, government employees, activists, and heritage experts – which all produce various emotional attachments to and detachments from the place (Smith, Wetherell, Campbell 2018). This will lead me to discuss how the inhabitants’ relation to the often difficult past influences the visions for the future of the historical quarter and enables or forecloses certain activities.