Cliff Andrade

My Scholarship entry - Saudade

PORTUGAL | Wednesday, 12 November 2014 | Views [391] | View Larger Image

What I discovered as I travelled searching for my own heritage was an island struggling in a desperate search for its own identity. Following EU accession and the money it brought with it, vast construction projects were undertaken to modernise Madeira. But much was poorly planned and considered, bulldozering through the island's unique traditions and ecology as it went.

My parents emigrated from Madeira in 1974. In 2014, I returned in an attempt to get to know a place I was linked to by blood, but in reality knew nothing of at all. Famous for its tourist industry, I withdrew away from the busy coast, traversing the island by foot along its centuries old paths, that up until as recently as 30 years ago would have served as the island's main routes between communities.

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Severe flooding has been one consequence of this poorly considered development. A lonely decapitated pylon is all that remains of what was once an area of houses.

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Cliff Andrade

My Scholarship entry - Saudade

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