Bottom-up creativity and insurgent citizenship in “Afro Lisboa”: Racial difference and cultural commodification in Portugal

Abstract

This article analyzes recent audio-visual creativity by young Afrodescendants emerging out of the outskirts of Lisbon. We argue that those cultural productions are challenging unproblematic identifications of the Portuguese capital as a multicultural city shaped by African communities. Responding to issues of racism, police violence, and urban marginalization, but also to celebratory views of Portuguese society as exempt of racial discrimination, the communities inhabiting the neighborhoods of Cova da Moura and Quinta do Mocho are employing creative means to develop a positive identification of afro-diasporic communities. Engaging those means, this article places bottom-up creativity side by side to the activity of Lisbon cultural institutions such as museums and contemporary art centers. It also addresses the relevance of visual and musical creativity to counter the stereotypes and images frequently used to categorize racialized subjects and communities in Portugal. Finally, it explores the strategies employed by the residents of the above mentioned neighborhoods to struggle against the process of cultural gentrification Lisbon is going through.