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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”
The motto for the first edition of the In2Future Boot Camp was ‘Towards an ecology of heritage practices’. We sought to develop a holistic and critical perspective on heritage conservation, restoration or revitalisation practices, from the study of the conception of a particular ‘object’ as heritage to the design of practices and policies associated with safeguarding it. The second edition of the Boot Camp will take place again in Évora, between the 19th and the 25th of May, 2025, with the theme ‘Common heritage: Associative ties in the interstices of social life’, once more in partnership with Festival Imaterial, which runs from May 20th until the 24th, and Évora 27 – European Capital of Culture.
PhD students from the seven IN2PAST research units (RUs) will be challenged to explore ideas around the notions of ‘associative legacy’ and ‘heritage associations’ and to carry out practical and immersive experimental research around the associative legacy with heritage value in the city of Évora.
PhD students from the seven RUs which make up IN2PAST can apply to attend the Boot Camp.
Applications must be completed using the form available at https://forms.gle/Y2C5V8LnFDrXwESC8 by February 24th, 2025 (NEW DEADLINE).
The results of the application will be announced by March 12th.
Travel, accommodation and part of the meals will be covered by IN2PAST.
February 6th until 24th, 2025 (updated)
Click, fill in and submit
Anna Tsoupra, António Candeias, Catarina Miguel, José Neves, Pedro Antunes, Rita Luís, Sónia Vespeira de Almeida
The research to be carried out starts from the observation of a symmetry between the notion of ‘common good’, as the founding logic of associativism, and that of ‘heritage’, as a set of ‘inalienable goods’ imbued with affective qualities and which have been passed on intergenerationally, expressing values that are fundamental to the group’s identity. This relationship will be developed through empirical research with associations and co-operatives based in the city of Évora. Collaborative work will be developed, bringing an epistemological approach to the cultural associative practices that can be identified.
As a starting point for reflection on these associative legacies, we pose the following questions: How do these practices combine acts of social affiliation with the aesthetic-cultural fabrication of ‘common heritage’? Can associations unify small-scale ‘common goods’ into larger collaborative ecosystems? Can associations be spaces of practice for the collective and sustainable management of a common resource such as heritage?
From a theoretical point of view, we will situate the heritage of associative movements within the sociological anti-utilitarian paradigm of the ‘gift’, according to which exchange (in the form of the triple obligation to ‘give-receive- reciprocate’) is the founding moral principle of social life. It is through the freedom granted and the obligations presupposed by this principle that ‘common interests’ are realised.
Generally included in the so-called ‘third sector’, the formation of civil society and associative legacy should be understood here from a historical framework unfavourable to the associativism that survives ‘in the interstices of local life’. A full synopsis of the programme objectives for this year’s Boot Camp is available below. The detailed programme will be announced in April. As in the first edition, there will be joint initiatives with Festival Imaterial, including debates and conferences with national and international guests, guided tours, film screenings and music.
MISSION & OBJECTIVES
In the context of this immersive retreat, we propose that participants develop exercises of experimentation and critical reflection around the associative heritage of the city of Évora, through the sociological prism of the ‘gift’: what does sharing mean?
The main objective is to establish connections and interactions with Évora’s cultural and civil associations in a collaborative, transdisciplinary working environment. Following the spirit of the gift (the triple obligation ‘to give-receive-return’), it is expected that, at the end of the Boot Camp, the doctoral students will reciprocate the knowledge resulting from their experimental inquiries to the associations where and with which they developed their work.
In this 2nd edition of the Boot Camp, the training component of the programme aims to provide participants with a broad approach to issues and the potential, processes and practices concerning the futurity of common heritage(s).
To this end, a set of seven intertwined lines of knowledge will be pursued: (i) the recognition of the plurality of associative modalities and their social role; (ii) the study of the processes and practices of inventorying the associative heritage based in the Alentejo; (iii) learning systems of associative self-government and their knowledge(s); (iv) the cultural work and creative freedom provided by associative movements and activities; (v) the role of archaeologies of communitarian infrastructures in re-imagining new forms and means of civil association; (vi) associative politics mediating between the state and civil society on behalf of the ‘common good’; (vii) reflections on the place of the commons in deindustrialised, depopulated societies in a world characterised by progressive environmental degradation and deterioration of living conditions.
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IN2PAST – Associate Laboratory for Research and Innovation in Heritage, Arts, Sustainability and Territory is funded by FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I. P. under reference LA/P/0132/2020 (DOI 10.54499/LA/P/0132/2020)
