UCSB Anthropology Brown Bag Lecture Series Presents:

A Toast to Heritage: Minho and Galicia at the Vinho Verde Festival, Northwestern Portugal.

By Melody Knutson

There is currently much discussion among the Portuguese about what being in the European Union means for the role and status of the Portuguese nation-state as well as for "being Portuguese." How can they maintain their traditions and still be modern? How can they achieve the "right" image in Europe? And how can they do all that without compromising their identity as Portuguese, especially as the borders with Spain, Portugal's historical Other, becomes increasingly blurred? In this paper I examine the limitations of recently emerging notions of a shared heritage between Galicia and the Minho used by parties from both sides to argue the "naturalness" of closer economic ties. I argue that careful examination of this new cooperative relationship reveals competitive tensions and ambiguities that are potentially heightened by EU membership. I use Vinho Verde wine, its links to local identities and the Vinho Verde Festival to highlight the way highly fluid symbols of heritage are being strategically employed locally, but how, in the process, wine, heritage and Minhotos themselves are being commodified for the logic of a larger market.



Wednesday February 18, 1998; 12 noon
HSSB 2001A, The Anthropology Conference Room

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