Social sciences, punx

archives and memories:

considerations concerning
the KISMIF Archive
TNIA MOREIRA, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Porto, KISMIF
Project, Portugal

PAULA GUERRA, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Institute of Sociology, University of

Porto, Griffith Centre for Social Research, KISMIF Project Coordinator, Portugal

ANA OLIVEIRA, ISCTE - University Institute of Lisbon, DINAMIA'CET - University

Institute of Lisbon, KISMIF Project, Portugal

PEDRO QUINTELA, Faculty of Economics, Centre for Social Studies, University of

Coimbra, KISMIF Project, Portugal

Introduction

In this presentation, we propose

to address the importance of archives for the sociological
analysis of cultural manifestations linked to certain expressions
more or less underground and which lie closely related not only
with music but also with the visual arts, illustration and design.

We will focus on a particular subject: the independent publications,

self-edited and distributed through a do-it-yourself (DIY) ethic.

Indeed, there has been, over the past few years, a

growing interest for this type of (sub)cultural
practices and manifestations. This interest is
reflected
- ON THE ONE HAND, in a recent increase of the
production, exhibition and consumption of such DIY
objects - fanzines, 'artist books', photographs,
memorabilia, self-publications and other types of
self-edited publications - which are increasingly
present not only in record stores, bookstores, art
galleries and museums, as well as in other less
conventional spaces, online and offline
- ON THE OTHER HAND, this interest is reflected in
a growing investment by academia and some
cultural institutions (museums, libraries and
archives) to collect, analyze and preserve this type
of production associated with some more
underground culture, in a curious approximation to
some of the 'consecration systems' of more
mainstream art.

In this paper, we illustrate empirically

some of these reflections through the
constitution and promotion process of
a punk archive, developed by the
research project Keep it Simple, Make
it Fast!

From here we will seek to approach

some of challenges and questions
posed to those who have attempted to
build an archive on these types of
documents (Guerra and Quintela,
2014, 2015a, 2015b). Particularly, we
will approach all the processes which
have subsisted to the development of
an archive of punk manifestations in
Portugal in the last 40 years.

KISMIF
Archive

KISMIF Archive emerges because:

(1) we live in a context in which has gained importance the
reflection, questioning and redefining of the notions of
archive, heritage and memory in contemporary societies particularly within the research in social sciences.
(2) In Portugal, unlike other contexts, this is an issue that
gets particularly importance, since there are few analysis
with this socio-historical approach within social sciences
(and particularly in sociology).
(3) in the concrete case of punk manifestations, it turns out
that there are still very few academic studies in Portugal
analysing in depth this phenomenon.

(4) The research project Keep it simple, make it fast!

(KISMIF) proposes to bridge this 'failure', analyzing the
genesis, development and consolidation of the punk
movement in Portugal, taking into account the changes
that have occurred in contemporary Portuguese society
between 1978-2013.

one of the principal objectives of this project was to collect

and catalogue various materials related to punk
manifestations in Portugal, including sound and video
recordings, posters, flyers, fanzines, etc.

The corpus of the archive has up to now a wide array of

artifacts and entries:
- 177 fanzine editions;
- a database with 788 Portuguese punk bands;
- a database with 1429 phonographic records;
- 800 covers of phonographic records;
- the lyrics of 400 Portuguese punk songs;
- audio recordings of 217 interviews with the protagonists
of Portuguese punk; over a thousand photographs;
- and 760 newspaper and magazine articles related to
punk in Portugal

The constitution of an archive dedicated to this urban

culture is a research tool very relevant to the development
of a 'counter-history' of the punk in Portugal, making more
visible a socio-historical reality which, despite its strong
dinamism, remains largely invisible in the Portuguese
society.