A Quinta Essência de Agustina Bessa-Luís : la saveur aigre-douce de Macao

In the narrative A Quinta Essência Agustina Bessa-Luís proposes an original reading of the Portuguese postcolonial History, by reinvesting the topics of the intercultural relation and the meeting with the Other. In fact, in the troubled context of April 1974, the character of Jose Carlos Pessanha expatriates towards the East, more precisely towards Macao, one of the last Eastern colonies of the Portuguese colonial Empire. However, the characteristic of this tour of rediscovery of the East is that it makes the destiny of a character in search of himself coincide with the questioning of a country still looking for its own identity. Thus, in this voyage backwards into the Luso-Eastern History, the Author draws the portrait of a Nation-Empire split between the desire of incarnating this “genetic superiority of the Occident” and the fascination for the culture of the Other, symbolizing an “excess of otherness” (B. of Sousa Santos) in the Portuguese identity. Macao, will be the territory of an “entre-deux” and an intercultural circulation, as well as an emblematic ground to the expression of the “ambivalent and hybrid” position (colonizing/colonized) of Portugal in the Occident. As a consequence, the uncomfortable “non-inscription” (J. Gil) and the “nomadism” (Deleuze/Guattari) which characterizes José Carlos Pessanha, would be a reflection of yesterday’s and today’s Lusitanian epopee.

Underkuvade kunskaper och genealogins möjligheter

Subjugated knowledges and the possibilities of genealogy The article explores the possibilities of “voicing” marginalized subjects by analyzing letters written by female mental patients in the beginning of the twentieth century. Following Michel Foucault, genealogy is here used as a means to explore and reclaim subjugated knowledges, i.e. knowledges that have been dismissed, distorted, disqualified and put aside by more powerful and ultimately victorious knowledge claims, in this case the psychiatric discourse. Historically oriented research on madness has often explored medical and cultural discourses and representations, as these correspond to sources that can be easily found in archives. This also means that mental patients’ own narratives and texts have been more difficult to trace, partly due to the paucity of available documentation. Herein lies a challenge: how can we represent these subjects, whose stories are inevitably always already captured and filtered by authorities, without portraying them either as passive victims or reducing them to effects of power networks? The article thus ponders research ethics, the question of Otherness and the power of representations. The difficulties in representing female patients’ “own”voices are discussed, yet the article points to the necessity of taking voices that are simultaneously in the margins and in the centre of more powerful discourses, seriously as objects of knowledge. The article argues that “the insurrection of subjugated knowledges”, i.e. bringing back such knowledges as represented here by mental patients’ narratives, opens us otherpossibilities of knowledge. Hence, mental patients’ letters are seen as important “fractures” in the official and legitimized knowledge of madness, offering alternative understandings of both committed individuals and the psychiatric discourse itself.

Konsten att välja rätt spårvagn : en studie av segregation, skolval och unga människors studieplaner

The art of choosing the right tram – A study of urban segregation, choice of school and young people’s life plans When discussing barriers to integration and young people’s choice of school, research often focuses on language skills, cultural capital, supportive environments and other more obvious, distinct and material aspects that have an impact on educational achievement. In the present study, we have instead chosen to look at how young immigrants construct their inner career landscapes and life-plans, and how this relates to their perception of ethnicity, neighbourhood and identity. The sample used here consists of altogether twenty individuals. The interviews were used to explore certain designated dimensions and processes. All interviews were conducted in the school environment, in classrooms and other locations. The students attended two different inner-city schools. A narrative-sociological approach is used in the analysis. The young people’s perceptions and narratives are analysed in relation to concepts such as: territorial stigmatization, identity, self-perception and modifications of life plans. The findings show that the feelings of otherness which originates in housing conditions, experiences of exclusion and the everyday life of many immigrants, are transposed into the school area and transformed into strategies and life plans.