Punk, expectations, breaches and metamorphoses: Portugal, 1977–2012

Abstract

This article arises from an ongoing research project about the manifestations of punk in Portuguese society from 1977 to date. The approach to studying Portuguese punk occurs along the following axes: analysing punk music from the perspective of cultural representation; identifying punk subcultural practices; addressing the contours of Portuguese punk as social movement, scene or neo-tribe; assessing sociopolitical participation; and identifying urban forms of resistance and the occupation of space. The author underlines the different positions of social actors presently involved in the punk movement in Portugal in terms of their relation to the assumption of punk as a contemporary form of social and political resistance and a structural axis of the recomposition of new contemporary social movements; in addition to tracking the movements and struggles against the risks engendered by fragmentation stemming from the economic crisis and the deterioration of the overall quality of life. Here, the author seeks to identify the relationships between punk and contemporary forms of youth struggle. Data comprising 40 interviews with key Portuguese punk social actors, representative of the different regions, generations and scenes currently available in Portugal, inform the study.