The reintegration of Macao into the People’s Republic of China in 1999 transformed Macao into one of the gambling capitals of the world and was accompanied by unprecedented social changes that, ultimately, have redefined the Macanese identity. This book is about the Macanese who left Macao and now live in Portugal and looks at their interactions with their counterparts in Macao and elsewhere in the diaspora, using the Internet. Memory and ambivalence, deeply associated with kinship, language, food and heritage, are the cornerstones of this research, which overturns colonial stereotypes and concepts of Macanese cultural purity.

“Focusing on the manipulation of language and food, Marisa Gaspar’s monograph constitutes obligatory reading for anyone who is puzzled by the way in which the past challenges the future and vice versa”. João de Pina-Cabral, University of Kent “A valuable contribution for the ethnographic study of the Macanese… The book highlights how, in the current post-transition period, the prevailing Portuguese presence and its cultural influence shapes the unique identity of Macao”. Daniel Seabra Lopes, Universidade de Lisboa “[The author] is able to put into practice her training in anthropology, without ever leaving aside an interdisciplinary approach that gives to her works a contemporary historical-political dimension”. José Luís de Sales Marques, Instituto de Estudos Europeus de Macau

Marisa C. Gaspar is a postdoctoral fellow at SOCIUS/CSG – Lisbon School of Economics & Management, Universidade de Lisboa, and a visiting researcher at the Institute of Europeans Studies of Macao (IEEM).