Social sciences, punx

archives and memories:

considerations concerning

the KISMIF Archive

TÂNIA MOREIRA, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Porto, KISMIF

Project, Portugal

PAULA GUERRA, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Institute of Sociology, University of

Porto, Griffith Centre for Social Research, KISMIF Project Coordinator, Portugal

ANA OLIVEIRA, ISCTE - University Institute of Lisbon, DINAMIA'CET - University

Institute of Lisbon, KISMIF Project, Portugal

PEDRO QUINTELA, Faculty of Economics, Centre for Social Studies, University of

Coimbra, KISMIF Project, Portugal

Introduction

In this presentation, we propose

to address the importance of archives for the sociological

analysis of cultural manifestations linked to certain expressions

more or less underground and which lie closely related not only

with music but also with the visual arts, illustration and design.

We will focus on a particular subject: the independent publications,

self-edited and distributed through a do-it-yourself (DIY) ethic.

Indeed, there has been, over the past few years, a

growing interest for this type of (sub)cultural

practices and manifestations. This interest is

reflected

- ON THE ONE HAND, in a recent increase of the

production, exhibition and consumption of such DIY

objects - fanzines, 'artist books', photographs,

memorabilia, self-publications and other types of

self-edited publications - which are increasingly

present not only in record stores, bookstores, art

galleries and museums, as well as in other less

conventional spaces, online and offline

- ON THE OTHER HAND, this interest is reflected in

a growing investment by academia and some

cultural institutions (museums, libraries and

archives) to collect, analyze and preserve this type

of production associated with some more

underground culture, in a curious approximation to

some of the 'consecration systems' of more

mainstream art.

In this paper, we illustrate empirically

some of these reflections through the

constitution and promotion process of

a punk archive, developed by the

research project Keep it Simple, Make

it Fast!

From here we will seek to approach

some of challenges and questions

posed to those who have attempted to

build an archive on these types of

documents (Guerra and Quintela,

2014, 2015a, 2015b). Particularly, we

will approach all the processes which

have subsisted to the development of

an archive of punk manifestations in

Portugal in the last 40 years.

KISMIF

Archive

KISMIF Archive emerges because:

(1) we live in a context in which has gained importance the

reflection, questioning and redefining of the notions of

archive, heritage and memory in contemporary societies -

particularly within the research in social sciences.

(2) In Portugal, unlike other contexts, this is an issue that

gets particularly importance, since there are few analysis

with this socio-historical approach within social sciences

(and particularly in sociology).

(3) in the concrete case of punk manifestations, it turns out

that there are still very few academic studies in Portugal

analysing in depth this phenomenon.

(4) The research project Keep it simple, make it fast!

(KISMIF) proposes to bridge this 'failure', analyzing the

genesis, development and consolidation of the punk

movement in Portugal, taking into account the changes

that have occurred in contemporary Portuguese society

between 1978-2013.

one of the principal objectives of this project was to collect

and catalogue various materials related to punk

manifestations in Portugal, including sound and video

recordings, posters, flyers, fanzines, etc.

The corpus of the archive has up to now a wide array of

artifacts and entries:

- 177 fanzine editions;

- a database with 788 Portuguese punk bands;

- a database with 1429 phonographic records;

- 800 covers of phonographic records;

- the lyrics of 400 Portuguese punk songs;

- audio recordings of 217 interviews with the protagonists

of Portuguese punk; over a thousand photographs;

- and 760 newspaper and magazine articles related to

punk in Portugal

The constitution of an archive dedicated to this urban

culture is a research tool very relevant to the development

of a 'counter-history' of the punk in Portugal, making more

visible a socio-historical reality which, despite its strong

dinamism, remains largely invisible in the Portuguese

society.