Global Journal of Human Social Science, C: Sociology and Culture, Volume 21 Issue 5

bigger structure, than mere official documents, political regimes or testimonies from “secret agents”, to apprehend all these traumatic processes and events. In this sense, research on oral history, recording of interviews with mundane actors from historical scenes, permission to infiltrate discrete devices, notes, and autobiographical data in the ways of exploring historical repositories, from the beginning, intends to create a mass criticism of raw material about private individuals, useful for the historical and social construction. A practical method which could be quite useful, not only for those whose history is liable to be excluded, but that could also highlight the positive role memory institutions play in building more cohesive societies based on democratic principles (Ivacs, 2012, p. 478). It is believed that Derrida foresaw the promising future of the archive, and provided a new definition for archiving to include the subject of the source, the human being himself in the therapeutic mission of the archive in the quest to cure the collective trauma. The philosopher defines two major dynamic forces acting, dialectically, during the objectification process defining individual responsibilities for preservation, to the detriment of suppression. At this point, Derrida questions the traditional historiograph y 15 VII. T he “ A rchons ” in C ortege and he prevents that media memorization, like the archiving process, does not provide full objectivity or completeness. Omissions or suppressions must be recognized as attributes of the psyche, and archives must play the role of consignment, as an external technique to assist the memory process (cf. Derrida 1998; Ivacs, 2012) a) Kola San Jon de Cova da Moura Festivities led by Cova da Moura ’s residents are part of the cultural and sports groups, study, and discussion groups’ annual agendas, within the associations, but they do not stick to them. They are also part of a dialectical relationship with a great variety of partner institutions. The mains supply is necessarily daily. Communication is one of the most important aspects. The flexibility of holiday dates is seen as a resilient approach. The work done within the group of Kola San Jon, in the associations and by the community, helps the self-recognition of internal qualities. It helps building an image of the festivities that deconstructs discourses of stigmatization and segregation imposed from the outside. Such unpleasant attitudes find strong resistance there as they contrast with a strong sense of closeness and community grown within the scope of local community (cf. Queiroz, 2019). Kola San Jon Festivity, held since 1991, at Cova 15 See the discussion on the concept of history and the process of professionalization of the historian’s social role, in Trouillot (1995). da Moura , in Amadora is associated with a specific founding moment evoked by different actors involved in a recent and equally specific historical context (Ribeiro, 2000; Horta, 2000; Miguel, 2010; 2016; Ribeiro, 2012; Queiroz, 2019; Lopes, 2020). One refers to the historical context in which they are involved, both the late colonial process undertaken in African colonies under the Portuguese yoke - forced labour; voluntary and involuntary international migration programs etc. (cf. Monteiro, 2018); and the events that have happened in Portugal, since the outbreak of the liberation wars in Africa - the crisis of the returnees; the gradual intensification of immigration from the “new” countries (former colonies); the increase in demographic pressure and the crisis around property in the process of democratization after 1974; and the consequences of this phenomenon that survived until today in the problems faced by Portuguese society (cf. Antunes et al. 2016; Antunes, 2017). Regarding immigration, although several Portuguese authors treat the phenomenon as a novelty, the city of Lisbon, has always been subject to demographic pressures, preoccupying the civil authorities since the end of the 19 th century. However, authorities have always addressed this problem ineffectively, preferably through segregativity measures, carried out on the basis of police prohibition, interdiction, coercion [violence], with collusion of the media, especially after the process of accession to the European Union, 1986 (cf. Horta, 2000; Alves, 2013; Antunes, 2017). Celebrations of Kola San Jon serve some hermeneutical provocations pertinent to the recent history of African immigration, and the process of building ICH in contemporary Portugal. The first provocation is a critical perspective concerning the approaches that interpret colonial institutions and their rites as events of resistance to colonial domination, from a simplified binary relationship as resistance/ collaboration (cf. Trajano Filho, 2006). Second, we refer to the arbitrary uses and abuses of “prohibition” and “punishment” categories by public and private authorities against the neighbourhood’s residents, throughout their story. As demonstrated, the questions about the stigmas of illegality, criminality and violence in the discourses, policies and practices of migrant “integration” in Portugal, as well as structural negligence, the suppression of rights and the exacerbation of the requirements inherent to granting them at the local level have always been tough obstacles for post-1960 African labour immigrants. In this wake, based on the evidence that the neighbourhood was built with great effort by the residents themselves - thus realizing the “dream of life” of many, and giving the place its own geography - one argues that the rhizomatic configuration woven in several intertwined arteries over time, has made it Volume XXI Issue V Version I 9 ( ) Global Journal of Human Social Science - Year 2021 C © 2021 Global Journals Kola San Jon De Cova Da Moura : An Instrumental Case of Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding in the African Diaspora in Portugal