The Importance of Words in the Everyday Life of the Suburbs of Lisbon - Madalena Galrinho

Words, in addition to their declarative or descriptive formats, also have a performative character – they do not exclusively serve the purpose of reporting what is done, but also serve to do so. What is the importance of language in the daily life on the outskirts of Lisbon? I intended to understand how language, on the one hand, is articulated with the contexts of exclusion and inequality that structure the urban condition and, on the other, functions as a mechanism for the construction of a collective identity, social inclusion, and resistance. Using semi-structured interviews with young people from precarious and racialized neighborhoods of the Sintra Train Line and combining them with my own familiarity on the ground, I will try to show that local communities are not reduced to passive receptacles of the contexts of oppression imposed on the ...