In the 4th volume of the “Notas do Quotidiano” [Daily Notes] series, Passeio presents “A praça de Braga: Desvelar o lugar” [Braga’s market square: Unveiling the place], a book based on the fieldwork carried out by Passeio’s coordinators, Zara Pinto-Coelho and Helena Pires, that took place during the period from January 2021 to July 2022 at Braga’s Municipal Market.
“Contrary to the imperatives of speed, functionality and financial sustainability, there are many strategies, both individual and institutional, that have been adopted to protect the public places in cities that are still open to leisure, to being with others, to the communion of the senses, to the reinvention of culture. Alongside the affinities that allow us to discuss markets in their various associations of meaning, we discover, in each of these places, a unique and moving way of producing a sense of place, based on the routine practices of planting, distributing, selling/buying, and ultimately of nurturing, feeling and being in common. In this short book, we aim to highlight the many senses of place that are produced in Braga’s Square Market. A place of memory, liminality, imagination and conviviality. A place where multiculturalism and common sensuality emerge. Going to the Square Market, selling in the Square Market or working there means more than just fulfilling a functional purpose, more than just surrendering oneself to the mechanics that organize and structure everyday life. It is precisely the unfolding nature of the places that take place there that makes it unmissable to visit it.”
The book is available in open access at the University of Minho’s repository and can be read here. Currently, the book is released only in Portuguese.
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