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 24, 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.

 

UPDATE

The programme for the second edition of the associate laboratory IN2PAST’s annual boot camp is now available. It includes several sessions open to the public, including talks, debates, the music listening session with commentary ‘Acordes da Liberdade’ (‘Chords of Freedom’) and the screening of the film Disobbedienti.

 

On the afternoon of Tuesday the 20th, the Palácio de Dom Manuel will host two inspiring talks, ‘Marcel Mauss’ gift as heritage’, by archaeologist and archaeological historian Nathan Schlanger (École Nationale des Chartes – PSL), led by Afonso Dias Ramos (IHA – NOVA FCSH / IN2PAST), and ‘Sociality and Emptiness’, by anthropologist Dace Dzenovska (University of Oxforfd), based on her text Bordering encounters, sociality and distribution of the ability to live a ‘normal life’ (DOI 10.1111/1469-8676.12075), moderated by Rita Luís (IHC – UÉvora / IN2PAST).

The film Disobbedienti, by Oliver Ressler and Dario Azzellini (2002, 54′) will be screened at 6 pm in the Soror Mariana Auditorium, followed by the debate ‘Associativism on an Interverted Horizon’, with José Alberto Ferreira (CHAIA – UÉvora / IN2PAST & Évora_27) discussing the social and artistic intervention of cultural associations in Évora with Francesca Iorio (IHA – NOVA FCSH / IN2PAST).

 

On the previous day, May 19^th, Luiz Souza (School of Fine Arts – Federal University of Minas Gerais / IN2PAST Brazil), a chemist and specialist in Heritage and Conservation Sciences, leads the guided tour ‘Dialogues with conScience’, part of the International Museum Day celebration, at the Eugénio de Almeida Foundation (EAF). And ‘Cultural Associativism in Alentejo: Processes and Practices’ is the subject for the talk with Maria Zozaya-Montes (CIDEHUS – UÉvora), about the documentary ‘Os patrimónios da sociabilidade I. As associações em Évora’ (‘The heritage of sociability I. Associations in Évora’), at Sociedade União Eborense ‘Bota Rasa’. Fátima Nunes (IHC – UÉvora / IN2PAST) and Paulo Simões Rodrigues (CHAIA – UÉvora / IN2PAST) are in charge of commentary.

 

Chords of freedom arrive at ‘Bota Rasa’ at 6:30 pm on Thursday 22nd, with Caio Priori Santos (CESEM – UÉvora / IN2PAST), and actor and stage director Paulo Roque inviting us to reflect on democracy and art as forms of expression and resistance in our society, and the meaning and importance of freedom in our lives. The music listening session with commentary ‘Acordes da Liberdade’ commemorates the 50th anniversary of 25 April 1974, celebrating the values of freedom, citizenship and democracy through the poetry and music of António Gedeão, Luís Vaz de Camões, Natália Correia, Manuel Freire, José Mário Branco, José Afonso, José Niza and Paulo de Carvalho.

At the end of that morning, the Boot Camp participants will be taken on a guided tour of the contemporary art forum by Maria José Barril, coordinator of EAF’s Heritage and Research Area.

 

Finally, on Friday May 23rd, after the visits to local associations, six workshops/skill building sessions on the Boot Camp’s main topic of common heritage and associative legacy, and other challenges, the PhD students will publicly present the results of their work. The event starts at 5:30 pm at ‘Bota Rasa’ and everyone is invited.

 

This year’s edition of the Boot Camp closes on Saturday, with the 4th IN2PAST Field Trip: ‘Évora in Common, between the Countryside and the City’, which will pass through the Malagueira neighbourhood (Bairro da Malagueira), designed by architect Álvaro Siza Vieira and an important place in the history of the Local Ambulatory Support Service (‘Serviço de Apoio Ambulatório Local’) and Portuguese architecture during the years of the ‘April Revolution’, and the Cistercian Monastery of São Bento de Cástris, a national monument that is the object of study and heritage safeguarding by different projects at the University of Évora.

 

The final programme (PT) is now available for download in PDF format and also in online flipbook format.

 

Organization: IN2PAST / Working Group for Doctoral Training

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

 

Image: © Filipe Rebelo_Sociedade União Eborense Bota Rasa