O mundo mediatizado das Marchas Populares de Lisboa

: a configuração comunicativa entrelaçamento mediático

Abstract

Our investigation centers on the relationship between Lisbon´s Popular Marches and the media, namely with regard to social media - Facebook, in particular -, as well as smartphones and tablets. The Marches are folklore groups that represent the way of life within the neighborhoods of the Portuguese capital. Across time, they have been mediatized by the traditional media. Nowadays, given the presence of and interaction with online social networks, smartphones and tablets in their everyday social and communicational practices, these groups have the opportunity to produce and introduce the mediatization of their own perspective about themselves. We think that this relationship with the media can put forward a «communicative figuration» (Hepp, 2014), in which not only the traditional media but also the marchers are able to build a socially mediatized world. In that way, we consider this figuration to be a complement to the mediatized world created by the traditional media, and that they can both coexist. According to Hepp (2014), «mediatized worlds» are small social worlds on which «communicative figurations» are built, having as reference the relationship with the media. This term is also an empirical path for studying the processes of mediatization. Therefore, the focus of this research is to reflect upon the following: how do these Lisbon communities interact with these media, socially creating a mediatized world? What are the characteristics of this world mediatized by the marchers themselves? Regarding the first question, the goal is to observe how the marchers manage those media in their practices. As for the second one, we aim to understand how this relationship introduces new social and cultural dynamics into their current activities as a community. The methodology undertaken to address these questions is rooted on three techniques: observation; photography; and interview. We chose these techniques taking into account that the mediatized world under analysis results from a bilocational interaction. I.e., the relationship between the Marches communities and the media is both «physical» and «digital». As such, our observation is as much presential, inside the collectivities´ headquarters, as it is virtual, by following their Facebook pages. We took photographs during their public and private activities, and collected their posts on Facebook, always with granted permissions, in order to register the presence of the media as well as the interactions and social and cultural dynamics that stem from such process. Moreover, relying on the support provided by the data gathered through these two techniques, we finally interviewed the group members in person. So as to understand the relationship between these Lisbon communities and the media in our study, we intend to promote a reflection, within mediatization studies, on the spheres of culture under the umbrella of Media and Folk Culture.

Date of Award	7 May 2019
Original language	Portuguese
Supervisor	Rita Figueiras (Supervisor)