Revealing power : a genealogical reading of landscape and territory within a colonial context

Abstract

The work is a study on British Colonial appropriation of landscape in Malta. By carrying out this study, the dissertation proposes that Modernity / Modern space in Malta is derived from colonial methods used to occupy space. The aim of this study is to understand what these methods or spatial mechanisms are and how they are used to facilitate colonialism. The territory of Pembroke is taken as the case study for this work, because of its particular development from military camp into a town. The strategic spatial transformation of this camp into the town as it exists today is compiled from maps, plans and photographs spanning 200 years. This process takes the shape of a genealogy (spatial history) of Pembroke, which when read, explains not only how certain spatial mechanisms where employed by colonial powers, but just as importantly, the effects of these mechanisms on the development of the town of Pembroke. Taken at large, this genealogy offers a framework for a new reading of Maltese territory. Central to the work are themes of power, space, colonialism and territorialisation.