Otherness in Us

This line of research encompasses the study of topics such as regional, national, and international intercultural transfers and their reflection in society, language, culture, and heritage; investigates the presence of slaves, foreigners, and individuals viewed by communities as outsiders, including those seeking asylum and refuge; addresses issues of tolerance/intolerance, inclusion/exclusion, assimilation/discrimination.

The goal is to identify alterities that develop in spaces permeable to coexistence, analyzing these manifestations of difference and their interaction over time and space, as well as pointing out the memories built and the traces they produce. Through collaboration between research groups and projects, the purpose of this Research Line (IL) is to answer questions such as: how do literature and a range of cultural artifacts reflect issues related to the presence of political, economic, and ideological refugees, exiles, ethnic minorities, and others, throughout history in northwestern Portugal, and across borders in overseas territories? How have local and global representations evolved and contributed to existing patterns of cultural, aesthetic, and linguistic transmission? How did the “estrangeirados” – Portuguese cosmopolitan intellectuals of the 18th and 19th centuries who were abroad – introduce different worldviews, of international amplitude, in Portugal?

Another area of intervention is related to diaspora issues, censorship, and religious persecution of minorities in Portugal (e.g. New Christians, Jews, Muslims), and how the Inquisition dealt with these groups. How did linguistic, cultural, ethnic, religious and population alterities dissolve, or not, in Portugal and the former colonial territories? In what ways can religious literature offer us cultural representations of social practices, aesthetic elements, and values, and enrich our awareness of religious diversity and perceptions of other sensibilities?

Another research interest concerns the presence of slaves in Portugal, and how the dynamics of social and cultural interaction, inclusion and exclusion developed over time, since the 16th and 17th centuries, and more particularly from the 18th century on. How has the legacy of these exchanges attached to the historical process of slavery been represented in museum programs and narratives and in teaching programs? What brands, particularly cultural and heritage, tangible and intangible, remain? In addition to manuscript and archival sources, the answers to these questions will involve research into informal knowledge transfer systems and cultural artifacts, such as oral and popular tradition, artistic creations, and symbolic constructs.

Trading Value

This LI presents the oceans and transoceanic explorations as a focal point for the study of globalization in the long term, focusing on socioeconomic, cultural, and ecological aspects, as well as the dynamics of rupture and continuity that result.

It will integrate into this reflection variables such as the migration of political, religious, and economic models (such as those arising from colonization processes), as well as the interoceanic circulation of population, science, technology, and knowledge. LI will focus on the concept of transoceanic transfers, pointing to the study of global maritime dynamics.

Grounded in the study of indicators of an economic nature, among others, LI will investigate mechanisms of globalization to which the centrality of the oceans has contributed since the First Global Age (1500-1800).

LI will address complex flows that include the mobility of populations (spontaneous or forced, including slavery), and the transfer of goods, material culture, science, technology and knowledge, and intellectual and religious ideals.

Theories of cooperation and self-organization and the operation of informal networks will have particular emphasis in the research to be undertaken.

Contributions are expected from the fields of Genetics and Pathology, emphasizing the issue of pathological and ecological migrations over time and space.

The goal will be an innovative reinterpretation of the history of globalization, seen in the light of complex systems of genetic and ecological transfers, and drawing on multiple inter- and multidisciplinary contributions.

Another area of intervention consists in the articulation between the local and the “glocal,” analyzing globalization from a local point of view, beyond the formal circuits of colonial economies or imperial systems. LI will focus on investigating the development of informal economies, based on trade networks and knowledge transfer, arising from intercultural dialogues and spontaneous cooperation between individuals, focusing on flows and processes operating within and outside formal structures.

Through a study based on individuals (agent-based analysis), and the analysis of phenomena such as micro-entrepreneurship and networking on a global scale, this IL seeks to offer new perspectives on the role played by the dynamics emerging from the processes of European colonization, and corresponding dialogue with contact universes, in the history of globalization.

Shared Territories

This line of research investigates topics such as population mobility and regional settlement, migration and population history, and the dynamics of permeable communities as they relate to local memory and heritage, tangible and intangible. The starting point, which is intended to be multidimensional and multidisciplinary, will be the concept of fluid, diluted, or non-existent borders, and the evolution of the shared occupation of territories. Through the perspective of prehistoric and pre-medieval archaeology, this LI will focus on historical and geographical territories that clearly precede and go beyond the existence of traditional political boundaries, “national spaces” and nationalities. Notions of permeability will be emphasized, expressed, for example, in the ability to communicate in cross-narratives and cross-languages, and in access to a common heritage.

Examples of intergroup intervention areas already planned are the study of the Douro Valley, understood as a vast Iberian territory (now Spanish and Portuguese), without borders, shared diachronically by successive peoples and cultures, through processes that have left distinct patrimonial marks, such as the Archaeological Park of Vale do Coa. LI will analyze common prehistoric cultures, focusing on issues such as funerary rites scattered throughout the Douro Valley, and study the articulation between northern Portugal and Galicia. This LI also plans to produce an Atlas of Roman Heritage in the Douro Valley, a territory shared between Portugal and Spain, exploring the wider connections of this Roman route.

Another contribution of this LI will be a linguistic analysis of the broader connections between northern Portugal and Galicia, seen in light of their associated historical and heritage complex. LI will consider population flows within the framework of economic systems and how they contribute to the configuration of these shared territories, blurring socio-cultural boundaries. LI will ultimately investigate how, since the Modern period, a material, linguistic, and genetic heritage has been developed, shared across overseas territories, in a mutual process that has lastingly defined Portugal, along with its previous possessions in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Outstanding examples of this heritage are the Baroque architecture in Brazil and the Brazilian architectural influence in Portugal in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Environmental Transformations

This LI focuses primarily on the relationship between changing cultural value systems and behaviors, and environmental and climate change, with a particular focus on its historical aspects. LI’s priority is to contribute to a diagnosis of past climatic, environmental, and ecological transformations and the responses communities have made to these transformations. LI will analyze the concept of “sustainable economy”, translated into the emergence of new values, uses and relationships with the natural heritage, arising from the depletion of resources and/or a different environmental awareness. LI will analyze how these dynamics shift a focus from resource depletion to resource preservation, triggering economic and cultural change and the emergence of creative and innovative solutions. Examples of research questions are: How do changes in land cover, ownership regimes, and the gradual move away from a traditional rural economy translate into ecological consequences that could result in uncontrollable forest fires? How do these historical changes in rural economies (e.g., the rise of non-exploitation and concerted management of forest resources) evolve into crises of sustainability today?

LI intends to diagnose these phenomena in the pre-statistical past, contributing to a debate about landscape transformation, environmental change, and risk and disaster assessment, focusing the discussion mainly on mainland Portugal and European territories. This debate will be held using historical, literary, cartographic, iconographic, religious, and other perceptions.

Another theme to be studied concerns how the scarcity of hydrographic and fish resources interferes with local communities, leading them to renegotiate their sociabilities and redefine their identities. In this sense, this LI intends to produce an inventory of Portuguese Maritime Heritage, as well as inquire how literary representations, artistic achievements, and religious practices, among others, reflect broader environmental transformations.

LI also intends to pay attention to primitive extractive and pollutant economies, which in time acquired a patrimonial value, such as the tungsten mines, currently deactivated, and reconverted into museum complexes and environmental centers. The starting point will be to study the role that mining has assumed in these communities, shaping their worldview and social heritage, and relating them to broader European heritage routes.

The LI also aims to assess the resilience of shorelines to vulnerability factors and natural disasters, measuring their adaptive capacity, in the long term, and looking at them as a sociocultural system marked by use conflicts and their response capacity.

Changing Transitions

This line of research seeks to inquire into a broad set of topics linked to paradigm shifts driving changes in forms of government, local and global, and public policy.

These include, for example, changes of a demographic nature (such as an aging population); economic shifts (such as the new paradigm of a social economy); political and governance changes (such as regime shifts); and the broad changes caused by evolving digital cultures, information technology, and the wider diffusion of knowledge.

LI hopes to discuss issues such as population aging, well-being, and health, assessing how notions such as quality of life, active lifestyles, the value of human life, and the individual have evolved as a result of the lengthening average life expectancy. It also seeks to demonstrate how population mobility on a global scale and increased life expectancy have broadened the debate on these topics.

Another area under scrutiny will be the gradual transition from capitalist values, focused on immediate profit, to others, focused on notions of sustainability, strengthening the social economy and the values of solidarity, social networks, and continuing education for citizenship.

LI will investigate in what terms and with what impacts the exercise of citizenship has expanded, thanks to digital platforms and the changing paradigms of social education practices.

Another area of intervention will seek to study informal economies: alternative forms of exchange and transaction values, accompanied by notions such as barter, sustainability, fair trade, and trust relationships.

Another line of reflection concerns transitions of a political nature, such as those from authoritarian regimes to democracies. For example, what transitions have developed in Portuguese society since the democratic revolution of 1974? What values and social priorities have been established, from an educational point of view, in the last four decades? LI will similarly focus on the role played by digital cultures and creative industries in the field of heritage.

It will ask how they can contribute to the creation of heritage information products, repositories, and dissemination platforms that link academic research to the business world, or other products that can be purchased by players in the cultural tourism market.