Power, Politics and Activism
The thematic line Power, Politics and Activism provides a space for pursuing INET-md’s main strategic goals, spanning its four branches and most research groups. The line’s keywords are interconnected and benefit from intersectional approaches both in the literature and the conceptual concerns of the projects carried out by our researchers.
Power is central in the study of a wide spectrum of research problems, including but not limited to political organisations of the histories and geographies of Lusophone territories. Derivative terms, such as counter-power, empowerment, and soft-power, reveal its profound reach. The research groups Historical and Cultural Studies in Music, and Ethnomusicology and Popular Music Studies have significant outputs focusing on the articulation of music, power, and resistance, such as the ongoing project “Music and Portuguese Exile in France during the Estado Novo Regime (1933-1974)”. In other areas of inquiry, Power is also relevant when studying the impact music, sound and dance have on emotions and social interactions.
In this thematic line, Politics refers to the entanglement of music and dance with political agendas, from early artistic education up to live performances. This is a central concern for the research groups Creation, Performance and Artistic Research, and Education, Music and Theatre in the Community, which work on “Social Intervention Projects in Music, Theatre and Dance”, as well as researchers focusing on “Music, Dance, Heritage, Memory”, particularly within contexts of migration and diaspora.
Activism is a vibrant field of analysis reflecting the actions of youth worldwide and also connects to historical resistance forms such as protest music/dance/performance. The Observatory of Protest Song is key in such research. We devote focus on identity and global causes, namely related to racial/ethnic, gender, sexual, and climate change concerns. For instance, members of the research group Dance Studies work on the subject “Dance, Education, Inclusion, Artivism”. Activism also reflects a commitment of some of our researchers to serve the communities with which they work.
The thematic line Power, Politics and Activism is central to INET-md in particular because Portugal is a former coloniser, a fact that enhances our responsibility to decolonial and postcolonial epistemologies. We have a multicultural team consisting of colleagues from the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Europe who do extensive fieldwork across various latitudes.
The coordinators of this thematic line will:
- Ensure transversality between research groups by organising regular meetings and fostering collaboration.
- Promote outreach at an international scale by joining regional and global networks.
- Showcase INET-md’s vast scientific production by editing thematic issues in high-impact journals and organizing biennial international conferences.
- Stimulate creative outputs based on music, dance, theatre, and performance serving as complementary forms of communication towards the general public.
- Guarantee that high-quality research within the thematic line remains.
Collaborating research groups
Coordinator
