IN-PERSON: Prague – Section A

Abstract

Aguda (Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal) has proven to be chameleonic in the way it redesigns and adapts to the uses of its diachrony. It is the tripartite relationship between fishing, agriculture and summer activities that generates an undeniable richness in the cultural fabric of which it is composed. However, the different social strata that converge there and give it shape, put in danger, a transversal knowledge of the local cultural process. Of what is our research experience, through a methodology of proximity with the educational and cultural agents of Aguda, we recognize the sharp fall of the community tradition and, inherently, of a sense of belonging to the territory. Although there is, within the classroom, an approach to local heritage, the impossibility of getting involved in urban dynamics, the lack of intergenerational dialogue that promotes the sharing of knowledge and memories, conditions and breaks with many of the international guidelines for safeguarding and sustainable heritage management. With this article, we present a project that puts into dialogue the research in Heritage Studies and the two local schools. We present a work that looks at the material and immaterial values of Aguda’s place, without crystallizing them in time, starting from the students’ drawings to interpret the territory and its agents. This action is intended to strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the cultural and natural heritage, recognising it as a pathway to territorial cohesion.