Negotiating a Postmemory Dichotomy: Nostalgia and Aversion in Malta
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12797/Politeja.17.2020.65.17Keywords:
Malta, British colony, tourism industry, nostalgia, colonial aversionAbstract
The island of Malta has served as a strategic colony since the dawn of history. Since Phoenician and Roman times, the island has been an important base in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. Its last colonisers, the British, spent about 180 years using the islands for their imperial needs. The official closing of the British base on 31 March 1979 heralded a new economic and social reality supposedly unhampered by the exigencies of foreigners. Two major post-memory reactions kicked in – nostalgia and aversion to ex-colonial life. The postcolonial Maltese generations exhibit a range of reactions oscillating between love and hate for the British. On the other hand, British ex-service personnel and their families have continued to feel an affinity with the island base which they had come to acknowledge as a second home. This allows for a new type of relationship between the Maltese people and their British visitors where issues of colonial post-memory are negotiated. These are seen at their best in the local tourism industry. Malta woos British tourists and goes to great effort to attract them. It uses to its advantage the colonial affinity to create an attractive destination for the British which benefits the locals and the Maltese economy. In Malta post-memory has evolved in line with necessity and expediency, where animosity, though manifestly tangible, has gradually morphed into a rather benign residue in the collective reaction to the colonial past.
Downloads
References
Austin D., Churchill and Malta’s War 1939-1943, New York 2010.
Avellino M., The Maltese Gift: Tourist Encounters with the Self and the Other in Later Life, unpublished Ph.D. thesis, London Metropolitan University, 2016, at <http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.694191>.
Avellino Stewart M., Cassar G., “Branding a Nation-state after Half a Century of Independence: The Case of Malta”, in L. White (ed.), Commercial Nationalism and Tourism: Selling the National Story, Bristol 2017. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21832/9781845415907-012
Bartolo P., X’kien ġara sew fis-Sette Giugno, Malta 2019.
Blouet B., The Story of Malta, London 1967.
Bradford E., Siege: Malta 1940-1943, Barnsley 1985.
Bruner E., “The Role of Narrative in Tourism”, Berkeley conference, On Voyage: New Directions in Tourism Theory, October 7-8, 2005.
Bugeja L., “The Historical Importance of Malta’s Grand Harbour”, Times of Malta, 11 August 2013, at <http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130811/life-features/The-historical-importance-of-Malta-s-Grand-Harbour.481865>.
“Campaign wants George Cross replaced by the Maltese Cross on the flag”. Times of Malta 24 September 2013, at <https://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130924/local/campaign-wants-george-cross-replaced-by-the-maltese-cross-on-the-flag.487479>.
Cassar G., “Tourism”, in M. Briguglio, M. Brown (eds.), Sociology of the Maltese Islands, Malta 2016.
Cassar Farrugia A., A Postcolonial Discussion on Maltese Identity through an Analysis of Modern and Contemporary Maltese Poetry in English, unpublished Bachelor’s dissertation, University of Malta 2013, at <https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/7651>.
Cutajar A., Remembering Sette Giugno 1919, G. Cassar (ed.), Malta 2019.
Foucault M., The Archaeology of Knowledge, transl. by A.M. Sheridan Smith, London 1972.
Frendo H., Malta’s Quest for Independence, Malta 1989.
Frendo H. (ed.), The Sette Giugno – In Maltese History 1919-2019, Malta 2019.
Gallagher M.-A., DK Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guide: Malta & Gozo, London 2007.
Gaul S., Malta, Gozo and Comino, London 2007.
George Cross Island Association, at <http://www.georgecrossisland.org.uk/>.
Graburn N.H.H., “The Anthropology of Tourism”, Annals of Tourism Research, vol. 10 (1983), <https://doi.org/10.1016/0160-7383(83)90113-5>.
Greer T.H., A Brief History of the Western World, 5th edition, San Diego, CA 1987.
Hirsch M., “The Generation of Post-memory”, Poetics Today, vol. 29, no. 1 (Spring 2008), <https://doi.org/10.1215/03335372-2007-019>.
Jezewski M.A., Sotnik P., The Rehabilitation Service Provider as Culture Broker: Providing Culturally Competent Services to Foreign Born Persons. Buffalo, NY 2001.
Kip A.L. Psychology of Nations, New York 1902.
Malta Tourism Authority, Tourism in Malta: Facts & Figures 2016, Malta 2016.
Malta Tourism Authority, Tourism in Malta: Facts & Figures 2017, Malta 2017.
Malta Tourism Authority, Tourism in Malta: Facts & Figures 2018, Malta 2018.
Manduca A., “Pioneer’s Pride: The Preluna’s 40 Years”, Times of Malta, 26 March 2009, at <https://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090326/business/pioneers-pride-theprelunas-40-years.250410>.
Mangion R. (ed.), Sette Giugno Ċentinarju, Malta 2019.
Oglethorpe M.K., “Tourism in Malta: A Crisis of Dependence”, Leisure Studies, vol. 3, no. 2 (1984,), <https://doi.org/10.1080/02614368400390131>.
O’Callaghan S., Malta – A Handbook to the Island, 2nd edition, Nairobi ca. 1965.
Owen Ch., The Maltese Islands, London 1969.
Pearce P.L., The Social Psychology of Tourist Behaviour, Oxford 1982, <https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-025794-5.50007-8>.
Rojek C., Urry J. (eds.), Touring Cultures: Transformations of Travel and Theory, London – New York 1997.
Rose L.A., Frommer’s Malta and Gozo Day by Day, Chichester 2009.
Sant A., 28 ta’ APRIL 1958 – Ħobż u Ħelsien, Malta 1988.
Schofield J., Morrissey E., Strait Street – Malta’s ‘Red-Light district’ Revealed, Malta 2013.
Simmons B.A., “Saying the Same Old Things”, in M. Hall, H. Tucker (eds.), Tourism and Postcolonialism: Contested Discourses, Identities and Representations, New York 2014.
Smith S.C., “Dependence and Independence: Malta and the End of Empire”, Journal of Maltese History, no. 1 (2008).
Theodossopoulus D., “Scorn or Idealization?”, in N.B. Salazar, N.H.H. Graburn (eds.), Tourism Imaginaries: Anthropological Approaches, New York 2014.
Thomas S., Greetings from Malta, World War II, Tasmania 1996.
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Malta, 1967, “Agreement on Mutual Defence and Assistance”, 21 September 1964, no. 8518, in Treaty Series: Treaties and International Agreements Registered or Filed and Recorded with the Secretariat of the United Nations, Vol. 588, New York 1968, at <https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%20588/v588.pdf>.
Urry J., The Tourist Gaze: Leisure and Travel in Contemporary Societies, London – New Delhi 1990.
Wodak R., Disorders of Discourse, London 1996.
Xuereb Ch., “Malta’s Post-colonial Identity”, Times of Malta, 7 June 2018, at <https://cms.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/maltas-post-colonial-identity.681062>.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.