Summary

The overwhelming tragedy brought by the fires this summer in Portugal reveals, above all, a country in which the lack of territorial and economic cohesion is structural; where imbalances and faults, of all kinds, permeate the lives of those who still live and wish to remain in those territories. Although abandoned and made irrelevant by policies incapable of understanding and valuing them, they continue to produce knowledges, wisdoms, economies, unique ways of speaking about themselves and understanding themselves. It is a South in the North that continues to resist in many ways and that cries out, even though most of us are unable to hear it.

In the light of the premise of the Epistemologies of the South that states that alternatives are not lacking in the world; what is indeed missing is an alternative thinking of alternatives, the objective of this workshop is twofold. On the one hand, it intends to listen to some of the outcries of these territories by putting into dialogue different knowledges, be them academic, be those forged in local struggles for dignity and recognition. On the other hand, the workshop will be conducted in a conversation circle where different words, gestures, images, can be constituted in other languages.

The conversation will begin with the following people:
- Vanessa Sousa lives in the village of Campo Benfeito in Serra do Montemuro, a social activist,  local politician, member of the In Loco Association, PhD candidate in Cities and Urban Cultures and lecturer at the University of Algarve;
- José João Rodrigues. Social craftsman, responsible for the articulation of the Mondego Collaborative Networks for short circuits production and trade, nano-entrepreneur of organic salt of Figueira da Foz, community animator;
- Teresa Cunha, CES researcher, co-coordinator of the Epistemologies of the South Research Programme, social activist.

This activity is part of the Seminar Series "Epistemologies of the South Workshops", which runs from October 2017 to June 2018