2nd edition of the In2Future Boot Camp: Common Heritage: the associative link of Heritage

 

The first edition of the In2Future Boot Camp had as its motto “Towards an ecology of heritage practices”. We therefore seek to develop a holistic and critical perspective on heritage conservation, restoration or revitalization practices, from the study of the conception of a given “object” as heritage to the conception of practices and policies associated with its safeguarding.

The second edition of the Boot Camp will take place again in Évora, between May 19 and 25, 2025, with the theme “Common Heritage: the associative link of Heritage”, in partnership with Évora 27 – European Capital of Culture and with Festival Imaterial, which takes place in that city from May 20 to 24.

PhD researchers from the different IN2PAST units will be challenged to explore ideas around the notions of “associative legacy” or “common heritage” and to carry out practical and immersive experimental research around the associative legacy with heritage value in the city of Évora.

 

There is a symmetry between the notion of “common good”, as the founding logic of associations, and that of “heritage”, as a set of “inalienable goods” imbued with affective qualities and which have been transmitted intergenerationally, as such expressing values ​​fundamental to the group’s identity. Based on an empirical investigation of associations and cooperatives based in the city of Évora, a collaborative work will be developed to epistemologically approach the practices of associativism, with a cultural matrix, identified there. As a starting point for a reflection on these associative legacies, we pose the following questions: How are acts of social connection combined in these practices with the aesthetic-cultural production of ‘common heritage’? Can associations unify small-scale commons into larger collaborative ecosystems? Could associations be spaces to collectively and sustainably manage a common resource, such as heritage?
The theoretical-methodological orientation of this approach to associative heritage highlights the relevance of the affiliation of associativism to the sociological paradigm of the gift, according to which exchange (in the form of the triple obligation of “giving-receiving-reciprocating”) is the founding moral principle of social life. It is through the freedom granted and the obligations assumed by this principle that “common interests” are realized. Generally included in the so-called “third sector”, the formation of civil society and associative life should be understood here from a historical framework unfavorable to associativism, with the latter surviving “in the interstices of local life”.

 

Target audience: PhD researchers from the 7 IN2PAST UIDs can apply to attend the Boot Camp

Registration: by filling out this form until February 24, 2025 (extended deadline)

Communication of results: by March 12th

 

The trip, accommodation and part of the meals will be provided by IN2PAST, so you must contact the respective UID.

 

A full synopsis of the programmatic objectives of this year’s Boot Camp will be available soon via the IN2PAST website. The detailed program will be announced in April.

As in the first edition, there will be initiatives shared with the Imaterial Festival, including debates and conferences with national and international guests, guided tours, cinema and music shows.

 

Organization: IN2PAST / Working Group for Doctoral Training

Partnerships: Festival Imaterial and Évora 27 – European Capital of Culture

 

Image: A theatre rehearsal by an associative group that boot camp coordinator Pedro Antunes was part of as a student in Évora in 1999. The rehearsals took place at Sociedade Harmonia Eborense.
© Filipe Rebelo | Sociedade União Eborense “Bota Rasa”