Portuguese heritage is strongly marked by historical contacts with other peoples, sometimes so embbeded in a national narrative, that their cross-cultural origins become invisible. Migrants in Portugal may have a unique view of this heritage, but their experiences commonly run parallel to Portuguese culture, instead of engaging with the national culture, contributing to reshape it. The proposed work will promote the production of mediated intercultural stories revolving shared heritage, promoting social cohesion between migrants and natives.
The community
Community of first, second and third generation migrants from countries that have a rich shared heritage with Portugal.
- Whose readings are usually missing in formal presentations and discussions of heritage
- Migrants from preferably former Portuguese colonies
- More than one community, as these groups are fragmented, in small clusters
The challenge
- Complement and enrich a largely euro-centric discourse.
- History shaped by a colonial past where the power center over dignified its condition at the expense of the periphery.
- Current identity as reshaped by cultural encounters
What kind of actions?
- Cultural and social situation analysis: An initial survey will define a set of cultural indicators that will provide a comparative frame to evaluate the cultural and social impact of the project in the participants in the pilot’s work.
- Heritage and cultural institution mapping: A mapping to national cultural and heritage resources will be built, and protocols will be established with relevant cultural institutions.
- Cultural workshops : Participant migrants will engage in storytelling workshops, and be invited to promote their own cultural experience in the context of the mapped material and immaterial heritage.
- Monitoring and evaluation: At the last stages of the project, the initial survey will be replicated to measure the cultural and social impacts of the pilot’s work.
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Wider Dissemination of result: In order to reach a wider audience of potential stakeholders, some public initiatives will be developed, among which a seminar.
Memex project started in 2019 and will run until 2022.
