Walking among the ghosts of colonialism. The haunting onomastic of Palermo

Abstract

This article aims to reflect on the ghosts of the city of Palermo through the experience conducted during Manifesta 12: the first Great Walking Ritual against Colonialism conceived by Wu Ming 2 and the collective Fare Ala. It is a matter of reconstructing walkscapes to bring out the urban silences that surround us: a path of apprehension capable of creating, metaphorically, a feeling of fear but, at the same time, of knowledge (Careri, 2006). This state of ambiguous apprehension is revealed in the streets of the city through toponymy, and the absence or presence of symbols and signs. This article – which follows the schematic tripartite division proposed by Vanolo (2018) – intends to reflect on a political understanding of the ghost. In particular, the idea of the ghost analyses elements of the past that are visible and, at the same time, invisible in the present.