Models of belonging have radically changed with modernity, and allegiances to the nation, to religion, class and tradition have been affected by the global flows, by the creative hybridization of the social, by the claim for rights for new identities (in ethnic, gender or religious terms) and not least by the impact of technological mobility on the lives of individuals and societies. Cultural actors have embraced the change and have been increasingly seeking to reform the very notion of democratic citizenship by dint of creation. As the global flows have helped to question traditional understandings of cultural identity, the notion of citizenship itself has been increasingly reshaped to include new forms of belonging, which often use literature as a mediator in the claim for new legal rights.

On the other hand, a new awareness about the importance of the cultural sector for social and economic sustainability, arising from the role played by the cultural and creative industries has not only given vent to a new professional class, that R. Florida has rightly termed the creative class, but has as well provided new challenges and opportunities for those dissecting cultural work and its meaning making potential.

The idea of culture, either as praxis, as a way of knowledge-production, of individual and collective belonging, as product and as singular creation, cannot do without creativity. While this is undoubtedly true for culture, could the same be argued for the economy? Clearly all human action is marked by some sort of cognitive creativity. One never performs the same task in exactly the same manner, one never thinks twice absolutely alike, and as Derrida contended, repetition does not necessarily mean overlapping. But is this the creativity we wish to consider and does it overlap with creation?

The theme of the V Lisbon Summer School for the Study of Culture focuses on the capabilities of the concept of cultural citizenship as a roadmap for the future, couched in the claim of a new civil contract, sponsored by the arts.

We welcome proposals discussing cultural citizenship from the standpoint of the following issues, amongst others:

• Reforming citizenship in the cultural sector;
• Curating as a strategy of citizenship;
• Globalization and the arts;
• Transglobal flows and literature;
• Literature and new global rights;
• The creative class and cosmopolitan citizenship;
• Cultural policies and entrepreneurship;
• Social media, art and the reform movements;
• Visual culture and the right to look.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

• Mieke Bal (University of Amsterdam)
• Marita Sturken (New York University)
• Hans Bertens (University of Utrecht)
• Richard J Williams (University of Edinburgh)
• Igor Štiks (University of Edinburgh)
• Karl Erik Schøllhammer (PUC-RIO)
• Luisa Leal de Faria (Catholic University of Portugal)
• Paulo Soeiro Carvalho (General Director for Economy and Innovation at Lisbon City Council)

Masterclasses

• Esther Peeren (Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis)
• Martin Zierold (Karlshochschule International University)

SCHOLARSHIPS

Due to a partnership with FLAD – Luso-American Foundation for Development, the Summer School will provide travel and accommodation grants for American citizens or citizens with professional residency in the USA. To apply for the bursary send us a paper proposal and your full CV until January 31th. 

No further scholarships or grants are available at this time.

Organizing Committee

• Isabel Capeloa Gil
• Peter Hanenberg
• Alexandra Lopes
• Paulo de Campos Pinto
• Daniela Agostinho