Bottom-up creativity and insurgent citizenship in “Afro Lisboa”: Racial difference and cultural commodification in Portugal
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Date
2020-08-13
Authors
Garrido Castellano, Carlos
Raposo, Otávio
Journal Title
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Volume Title
Publisher
SAGE Publications
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Abstract
This article analyzes recent audio-visual creativity by young Afrodescendants emerging out of the outskirts of Lisbon. We argue that those cultural productions are challenging unproblematic identifications of the Portuguese capital as a multicultural city shaped by African communities. Responding to issues of racism, police violence, and urban marginalization, but also to celebratory views of Portuguese society as exempt of racial discrimination, the communities inhabiting the neighborhoods of Cova da Moura and Quinta do Mocho are employing creative means to develop a positive identification of afro-diasporic communities. Engaging those means, this article places bottom-up creativity side by side to the activity of Lisbon cultural institutions such as museums and contemporary art centers. It also addresses the relevance of visual and musical creativity to counter the stereotypes and images frequently used to categorize racialized subjects and communities in Portugal. Finally, it explores the strategies employed by the residents of the above mentioned neighborhoods to struggle against the process of cultural gentrification Lisbon is going through.
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Keywords
Creative industries , Gentrification , Portuguese studies , Postcolonial Africa , Public art , Racial difference , Urban art
Citation
Garrido Castellano, C., and Raposo, O. (2020) 'Bottom-up creativity and insurgent citizenship in “Afro Lisboa”: Racial difference and cultural commodification in Portugal', Cultural Dynamics, 32(4), pp. 328-351. doi: 10.1177/0921374020949057
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Copyright
© 2020, the Authors. Reprinted by permission of SAGE Publications. This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of the following article: Garrido Castellano, C., and Raposo, O. (2020) 'Bottom-up creativity and insurgent citizenship in “Afro Lisboa”: Racial difference and cultural commodification in Portugal', Cultural Dynamics, 32(4), pp. 328-351, doi: 10.1177/0921374020949057. The final authenticated version is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0921374020949057