Paper short abstract:

This paper will show the 20th century Porto-based historians' production is one of the main contributors to Porto's sense of place as objectified in the tripeira identity. It will argue that some of those elements can be equally found in filmic and literary production on the city.

Paper long abstract:

The city of Porto is frequently described as having a 'spirit' specific to it. This sense of place is objectified in the tripeira identity, a way of being taken to be specific to the people who were born and live in this city. Departing form an understanding of social identity as identification, i.e., as processual, relational and historically contextualized, this paper will show how the scientific production of Porto's State University historians are one of the main contributors to this Porto sense of place. This paper will present an analysis of the discoursive narrative of the main histories of the city written in the 20th century. A definition of the main points that construct the historians' narrative will be presented, to then move to 20th filmic and literary production on the city of Porto so as to show how it is possible to find in them the same elements found in the Porto-based historians' scientific production. It will be argued that (1) the historians' production only makes full sense if we take in consideration not only what is remembered, but mostly what in their narratives is forgotten, and (2) that this repetition of discoursive elements in different cultural productions makes it possible to take the tripeira identity as a myth in Roland Barthes' sense - a form that aims at persuasion and not explanation - a characteristic that allows it to be a frequent resource used by Porto-based politicians in their present day discourses.