Decolonising Difficult Heritage Through Political Graffiti:

(Re)Interpreting the Commemoration of Pedro Álvares Cabral in Santarém, Portugal

Abstract

This article examines the statue of Pedro Álvares Cabral in Santarém, Portugal, as a site of difficult heritage deeply embedded within a broader memory network celebrating Cabral’s life and his so-called ‘discovery’ of Brazil. Centring on a 2019 incident in which the statue was graffitied with the political statement ‘Colonialismo é Fascismo’, I arrive at this intervention first by framing graffiti deployed against commemorative sites tied to colonialism and slavery, then turning to Cabral’s life, his Santarém statue, and its surrounding spatial elements – arguing how the commemoration can provoke critical responses, particularly in light of historical controversies I go on to unpack as attributable to the figure. In assessing the intervention, I argue that it establishes a counter-celebratory narrative of Cabral and posit that the political text graffitied on the statue should not be dismissed as mere vandalism but rather understood as a reinscription and form of textual marginalia that is useful in exposing silences surrounding colonial and authoritarian legacies, thereby contributing to the decolonising of the statue.