Research group: Culture, Identities, and Power

Coordination: Rita Luís

‘Culture, Identities, and Power’ is an interdisciplinary research group committed to the questioning of the historical and political dimensions of cultural objects. Taking a very comprehensive overview of subjects like cultural history and cultural studies as a starting point, the members of the group collectively develop a seminar culture based on the sharing and debate of texts and researches. In this regard, what identifies the group, more than a historiographic tradition, is its capacity to raise critical questions and integrate contemporary theoretical debates. Initiatives such as the workshop “History and Image” or the seminars “art in the periphery” and “Historical Revolution”, reveal not only thematic diversity but also a common desire to explore new historiographic sources (like images and sounds), to question traditional categories (such as those of the division between centre and periphery) and to open historical research to other historiographic, artistic and cultural traditions (such as the openness to non-academic forms of expression in the representation of historical events).

Directing its collective activities and the individual research of its members towards problematisation and questioning – more than the quest for answers – the group bets on the permanent openness to new ideas and interlocutors.