(Re) Rural
Habitat, Habits and Practices of Everyday Life
How were they? How are they? How will and how they want to be?
Opening of Retrospective Exhibition
Saturday, June 2 at 17:00
Centro Social de Manhouce (Manhouce, São Pedro do Sul, PT)
Authors:
Ana Costa, Maria Carlos Valverde, Silvia Jorge and Zoraima de Figueiredo for Sound and Rural Architecture Festival
Participants:
Students of the 3rd and 4th year of Manhouce primary school and inhabitants of villages in the Civil Parish of Manhouce
Production:
Luis Costa (Binaural / Nodar)
Support:
Social Centre of Manhouce, School Group of Santa Cruz da Trapa, Isabel Silvestre and Vozes de Manhouce, Civil Parish of Manhouce, Aldeias de Magaio Village Association
(Re) Rural is a project focused on the analysis of three different aspects of the transformation processes in rural areas: habitat, uses and practices of everyday life.The reading of these aspects went through three spatio-temporal scales, inter-relating the space (the habitat, and the typologies associated with the customs and practices of everyday life) and time (past, present and future), from different generations (grandparents, parents and children).
This starting point directed the case study for the village of Manhouce, by having a school to work in the context of surrounding area (Gralheira mountain range in the municipality of São Pedro do Sul). The territory itself was taken as the subject of this study, so were the life stories of their population, starting from the students of the 3rd and 4th year of the local school. By adopting a “snowball” strategy – start small and gradually increase the volume – it was possible to make a spatial-temporal journey, starting with the children and going through their parents and grandparents.
Issues raised:
Habitat, habits and practices of everyday life: How was it? How are they? How will they be? Because they want to be?
What changes in the rural areas over time?
What phenomena / concepts (perirural space, subrural space, processes of gentrification, dormitory villages, among others) can be associated with these changes?
What they represent? Are we witnessing a (re)use of the countryside? What (re) rural may represent?
Main objectives:
To establish an inter-relationship between space, time and the involved generations. To analyse the transformations of rural areas over time, habitat, uses and practices of everyday life, from the life stories of three generations of people (grandparents, parents and children). To reflect on the impact of these transformations in the meaning of the concept of “rural”.