Paper short abstract:

Doing research in Cova da Moura, a neighbourhood in the outskirts of Lisbon, with a poor and mostly black population, to discuss racism in Portugal, led me to go beyond etic and emic perspectives, which was met with challenges and difficulties in fieldwork and in presenting evidence of racism.

Paper long abstract:

Cova da Moura is a neighbourhood built by its own residents, a poor, migrant, and multi-ethnic population mostly of African origin or descent, on the outskirts of Lisbon, the capital city of Portugal, using mutual aid practices which resulted in a strong and active associative network that resists demolition, and relocation and expulsion. It is a highly mediatized space and a tourist area. It is also a centre for blackness. Despite the enormous interest that this neighbourhood has sparked, especially in academic and artistic circles, it remains at risk of demolition and its population at risk of expulsion, and at risk of exclusion and violence from the police. My research aimed to observe the political, social, economic, cultural, and symbolic interactions held between this neighbourhood (and its residents), and various areas of the metropolitan area of Lisbon, seeking to discuss their different integration strategies in society as well as the marginalization traits as they are perceived from inside Cova da Moura as well as from outside. I did fieldwork, which allowed me to have access to the neighbourhood's routine, doing participant observation in a local association and observing moments of mediation between Cova da Moura and local and state authorities, and the city and extended population. I also research media content and conducted interviews. However, I was met with resistance, being denied interviews from the local municipality as from the state police. Also, my research findings were sometimes met with denial when evidence of racism was presented.