City Branding and Intercultural Heritage in Amadora, Portugal

Bibliographic Data

ID3609475
AuthorsA Desille (0000-0002-1813-8521, University of Lisbon, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume45
Issue1
Pages31-51
Publication date2024-01-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Intercultural Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0725-6868 • E-ISSN: 1469-9540
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/07256868.2023.2244891
OpenAlexW4385663243
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited36

The Portuguese city of Amadora hosts the first national registry of an immigrant Intangible Cultural Heritage to this day: the Kola San Jon celebration in the self-built neighbourhood of Alto da Cova da Moura. Many other practices, events, manifestations, and arts could be recognised as immigrant cultural heritage in this city, yet only a few are indeed recognised and supported by the municipality. Through the analysis of four ‘vignettes’, I suggest that municipalities shape a soft policy for immigrant integration by harnessing such apolitical, folklore traditions celebrated by the various immigrant groups present in the city as part of its city branding strategy and policy internationalisation. In other words, cultural heritage is exploited to serve purposes other than communal tradition, to promote the city’s profile. To that aim, this article examines local migrant cultural heritage policies in relation to urban development using the concept of ‘intercultural heritage’ as a critique. By intercultural heritage, I mean heritage practices that are adopted by public institutions to rebrand and legitimise their immigration agenda in cities with a very heterogenous demographic

Cultural heritage · Cultural heritage management · Folklore · Immigration · Political science · Portuguese · Sociology · Anthropology · Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity · Gender Studies · Law · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy

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