You are here: Home > Events > Workshop Rethinking DIY Cultures and their Contemporary Creative Vitality in the Global South by Prof. Paula Guerra (University of Porto)
We kindly invite you to participate in the workshop 27.03.24 13:00, room 350
Beginning in the mid-1970s, the notion of do-it-yourself (DIY) culture evolved from an ethos of resistance to the mainstream music industry, centered on punk, to a more widely endorsed aesthetic that underpins a broad sphere of alternative cultural production. While not avoiding counter-hegemonic concerns, this transformation of DIY into what could reasonably be called a global alternative culture has also seen it evolve into a level of professionalism that aims to ensure cultural and, where possible, economic sustainability. During a period in which the very concept of culture is the subject of various attempts at hyper-commodification, under the ever-widening banner of the cultural industries, the many cultural professionals who wish to remain independent have benefited at the same time from the increasing emphasis, in urban centres, on cultural production, performance and consumption. In fact, these professionals are often able to hone the creative skills acquired while participating in underground cultural scenes and alternatives for their use in careers as DIY cultural entrepreneurs. This workshop examines the longevity of DIY cultural aesthetics and its evolution in the context of the Global South – namely in Portugal and Brazil. From its roots in the punk movement, the DIY concept has grown to encompass a highly complex and vibrant alternative sector of cultural production and consumption on a global scale.
Paula Guerra is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Porto and Researcher at the Institute of Sociology of the same University. Paula is an Adjunct Associate Professor of the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research in Australia. She is founder/coordinator of the Network All the Arts: Luso-Afro-Brazilian Network of the Sociology of Culture and the Arts. Paula is the founder/coordinator of the KISMIF (kismifconference.com and kismifcommunity.pt). Paula is member of the Board of the Research Network of Sociology of Art of ESA and Chair of the Portuguese Branch of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music. She coordinates several research projects subordinated to the youth cultures, sociology of the arts and culture, co-creation, methodology and research techniques, DIY cultures, among other subjects. She has likewise advised and supervised several Masters, PhD and Post-Doc projects in the aforementioned areas. She is a member of the editorial council of several national and international journals, as well as editor and reviewer of several articles and books on a national and international level. Paula is editor-in-chief (with Andy Bennett) of SAGE journal DIY, Alternative Cultures and Society.