Waterscapes, Memory And Tourism: Materiality and place-making around Madeira’s levadas

This article analyses the relationship between waterscapes, memory, and tourism, particularly to understand materiality, and place-making around irrigation canals. To examine this relationship, I use a case study about the levadas of Madeira Island, an extensive network of irrigation canals whose main function is to conduct and supply water for irrigation and human consumption. However, beyond this, the levadas are also a space of memory and social relations centred on water. They integrate cultural landscapes and are the product of specific cultural, social, spatial, economic, and political arrangements, knowledge, and cultural material. The article is based on ethnographic research on levadas in Madeira, featuring participant observation, semi-structured interviews with several social actors, visual data collection, and archival research.