Paper short abstract:

This paper reflects on ambiguities in cultural salvaging among the Castrejos in the northern portuguese mountains. It reports on a community’s efforts to celebrate cultural pride while being haunted by the ghosts of a suffered past, and problematizes identity rescued from iconographic imagery.

Paper long abstract:

In northern Portugal, Castro Laboreiro struggles to carry and maintain its cultural burden. The Castrejos proudly inherit a collective identity emerging from terrible strife against the harsh conditions of the mountaintops they historically inhabit. The men would travel afar for work, often under terrible conditions; the women would remain as stewards of the land and home, bearing black clothing and black capes that earned them national recognition as Castrejo icons. Most Castrejos no longer live in Castro Laboreiro. A widespread migration process in the 20th century led them outwards, and the riches that followed turned into irreversible transformations in the culture, architecture, and everyday life of the land. And yet, even living in the city, or abroad, a lot of Castrejos still proudly identify as such, socialize among themselves, and return regularly to the mountains they came from. However, the future of Castro Laboreiro is undetermined. Agriculture is no longer an economically sustainable practice, and the few business opportunities revolve around tourism which draws heavily from Castrejo historical traditions, often blurring the lines of authenticity. Facing an uncertain future, Castrejos turn to cultural pride, securing representations of their iconographic past as affirmations of the Castro Laboreiro that still exists. But these representations are haunted by the ghosts of the harsh conditions that Castrejos originally fled from. This paper will report on the ongoing uncertainties and ambiguities of Castrejo pride, drawing from ethnographical observations and narratives around domestic photographic collections gathered between the years 2020 and 2022.