Lígia Ferro

Learning how to work in the arts field in Portugal: a biographical approach to the migrant artists' trajectories

The article considers the key dimensions of the life trajectories of the immigrant artists living in the Lisbon metropolitan area focusing on those related to the socialization process both in formal institutions and in a broader setting of informal learning. The authors conducted a sociological analysis of 20 biographical interviews with a heterogeneous set of individuals, including musicians, dancers and plastic artists. These interviews were a part of the research project on the social trajectories of migrant artists from the non-European Union countries living in Portugal. The results of the analysis show that formal and informal learning together with the migrant experience are intertwined and constitute the key factor in the configuration of migrant trajectories. There is often a mobility pattern across art styles, which makes differences between formal and informal circumstances in the life trajectories of migrant artists evident. Migration has a strong impact on the artistic work; this impact affects different areas of biographical experience: contact with the Portuguese culture, development of ethnic references, and participation in transnational art movements. The condition of immigrant artists generally implies a long trajectory of artistic training, including significant experiences of formal and informal learning in multiple social contexts throughout the life course. For those dedicated to the new transnational urban cultures (hip hop, graffiti, etc.), informal learning is the most important element. For those engaged in the traditional arts, the attendance of lengthy artistic programs seems to be a fundamental prerequisite for training and recognition. Together with the long and significant artists’ investments in their education, the sociological study also revealed the great vulnerability (and precariousness) of their life trajectories, and the lack of structures supporting their access to the labor market.

Entre o fazer etnográfico e o fazer psicanalítico: reflexões sobre a "escuta" da população sem-abrigo na rua de Cimo de Vila da Cidade do Porto

O presente artigo centra-se na discussao das articulacoes possiveis entre a metodologia etnografica e a metodologia de pesquisa usada na clinica psicanalitica para a compreensao de territorios urbanos em que transitam individuos com consumos abusivos de alcool e de outras substâncias psicoativas ilicitas. Para esta construcao teorico-pratica, foram consideradas as experiencias dos autores tanto no cuidado de consumidores de drogas a partir de estrategias de atencao psicossocial aplicadas no Brasil, como na investigacao etnografica em Portugal. Uma das principais conclusoes colocadas a discussao, consiste na evidencia de que a articulacao de tais metodologias permite uma compreensao mais abrangente e aprofundada dos territorios urbanos, considerando simultaneamente os problemas de ordem coletiva e de ordem individual neles presentes.

Ethnographic explorations of the arts and education: an introduction

This special issue brings together detailed ethnographic studies of social practice in a variety of social contexts in which the arts and/or aesthetic concerns are central. It captures a momentum in educational ethnographic research in which an increasing number of researchers have turned their attention to expressive practices and artistic spaces as contexts and tools for learning, identity construction and social mobilisation. Admittedly, this interest is not new and educational ethnographic works examining expressive and artistic practices have appeared in this journal since its inception (Delamont 2006; Dhand 2006) and regularly thereafter (e.g. Russell 2007; Berglund 2008; Muth 2011; Atkinson 2013; Craft et al. 2013). In addition, there is a strong tradition examining the arts and creative production as methodological resources for socio-educational inquiry – captured in an Ethnography and Education Special Issue (volume 4; issue 3 – Bagley 2009) and a number of books (e.g. McNiff 1998; Knowles and Coles 2008; Barone and Eisner 2012; Albers, Holbrook, and Flint 2014; Leavy 2017). This special issue continues this conversation, drawing from the career-long interest in the arts and educational ethnography in one of the guest editors (Thomson) and the more recent engagement of the other co-editors (Poveda and Ferro) with this topic. The call also builds from two recent small conferences Learning, Education, Identities, and Musical Experiences: Ethnographic Approaches (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain, 17–18 April 2015) and Ethnoarts: Ethnographic Explorations of the Arts and Education (Universidade do Porto, Portugal, 21–23 June 2017) organised by the co-editors of the volume and supported by the Ethnography and Education Organization. However, with this special issue we also hope to extend and contribute to this conversation by showcasing recent research that re-situates ethnographic explorations of art and education in the current historical and intellectual moment. From our reading of the articles compiled for this special issue the following themes emerge:

Gender and electronic dance music: experiences, histories and “portraits” of female clubbers

The main objective of this work is to understand the construction of gender identities in the field of youth (sub)cultures linked to the participation in electronic music festivals, in particular, drum’n’bass , techno and trance , in order to understand the complex intersections between gender and social class and the internal structure of club (sub)cultures. The internal structuring process is therefore considered in a relational and multidimensional approach, using ethnographical approaches, biographic interviews and sociological portraits in order to detect transfers and discrepancies between pre-clubbing socialising and the acquisition of new (?) dispositions in the parties’ contexts .