We feel that there is presently in Portugal a deep, and in some way incomprehensible, paradigmatic shift from the type of rural ethnography carried out during the 20th century, whether by academic ethnographers or by local enthusiasts, the latter deserving no less respect for being “regional”. In the last decades, we think that there has clearly been a change of axis in the concerns of contemporary anthropology towards urban contexts and themes, and towards social-political critical theories, which, being legitimate, left vast rural territories at the mercy of heritage simplifications based on tourism and endogenous products’ promotion.
Therefore, our motivation is to try to work on this gap, on the one hand, doing it “the old fashioned way”, by recording, drawing, writing, photographing and, on the other hand, creating sound art works, making documentaries, writing ethnographic publications and publishing ethnomusicological record works, always making the edited and cataloged documents and other outputs made available in full, as a commitment to the territory and to all potential interested in developing further studies.
A decade later, Binaural Nodar maintains a permanent flow of ethnographic works and projects, which can be summarized in the following aspects:
Connection with municipal initiatives and in close partnership with other local actors, in identifying themes and communities to be researched: we develop, for example, work on the following themes: cereal cycles, such as corn (in Bondança, São Pedro do Sul), linen (Rompecilha, municipality of São Pedro do Sul and Várzea de Calde, municipality of Viseu) and rye (Sequeiros, municipality of São Pedro do Sul, Carvalhal de Vermilhas and Campia, both in the municipality of Vouzela); cattle breeding, forms of work and associated transport such as cow cars (in Bondança, Rompecilha and Nodar, all in the municipality of São Pedro do Sul, in Várzea de Calde, municipality of Viseu); vegetal world (in Varzea de Calde e Cabrum, municipality of Viseu and Gosende, municipality of Castro Daire); arts and crafts (in Posmil and Macieira, municipality of São Pedro do Sul and in Campo Benfeito, Ribolhos, Vila Pouca and Parada de Ester, all in the municipality of Castro Daire); religious rituals (Candal, Sequeiros, Sul, Manhouce in the municipality of São Pedro do Sul, in Ribafeita, Côta and Várzea de Calde in the municipality of Viseu, in Vouzela, Carvalhal de Vermilhas and Paços de Vilharigues, all in the municipality of Vouzela); riverside communities on the Paiva River (along the entire course of the Paiva River, from the source in Carapito, municipality of Moimenta da Beira to the mouth in Castelo, in the municipality of Castelo de Paiva) and ethnomusicology (Candal, Manhouce, Rompecilha and Sequeiros in the municipality of São Pedro do Sul, Carvalhal de Vermilhas in the municipality of Vouzela, Várzea de Calde in the municipality of Viseu, etc.) and so many other themes, interviews and soundscape recordings.
Cataloging and creation of digital archives created by Binaural Nodar and, in some cases made available to communities: there is a main online platform Binaural Nodar Digital Archive, which documents that are already edited, cataloged and described, organizing them in multiple access categories (locations, themes, type of registration, etc.), which allows the creation of personalized sub archives, as was done for the Linen Museum of Várzea de Calde (Memory Archive of Várzea de Calde) and for the municipality of Castro Daire (Memory on Wheels Digital Archive).
Participation in international networks of ethnoanthropological research in rural context and contemporary artistic creation based on ethnographic research (“Tramontana” and “Where the city loses its name” networks), which has enabled the team to develop a conceptual deepening and collaboration with internationally renowned specialists in areas such as ethnography, ethnolinguistics, ethnobotany, ethnomusicology, digital archiving management, social participation methodologies, etc.) and the dissemination of the work carried out by Binaural Nodar in multiple international contexts.
Dissemination of cultural objects in multiple formats, based on the recordings made, taking into account the interest of the communities and municipalities and also the creative freedom of Binaural Nodar itself: “mixed-media” ethno-artistic exhibitions in ethnographic museums (Linen Museum of Várzea de Calde , Vouzela Municipal Museum, Casa da Ribeira in Viseu, etc.), editorial production (see “Publications” chapter on this site), rural heritage workshops (see “Educational Program” chapter on this site), creation of sound works (see “Sound Compositions” playlist on our Soundcloud page) and documentary making, the most relevant of which being “Bondança: Abundância” by Manuela Barile, “Carvalhal de Vermilhas: A sensed place” by Luís Costa and Cátia Rebelo, “À Eira” by Liliana Silva , “Linen: stories along a thread” by Manuela Barile and “Várzea de Calde: A village woven from linen” by Luís Costa, among others.
