UNDERSTANDING SOCIAL INEQUALITIES AND TERRITORIES THROUGH LIFE HISTORIES:

REFLECTIONS BASED ON THE EXPERIENCES OF THE IS-UP NUCLEUS OF THE MUSEU DA PESSOA

Abstract

 The Nucleus of the ‘Museu da Pessoa’ (People’s Museum) was created to build a digital archive of qualitative data, while also promoting exhibitions and debates in research contexts. Through oral testimonies, life stories are collected and disseminated from a diversity of social actors across the national territory, facing various inequalities or vulnerabilities. With the aim of deepening the processes of structuring social inequalities and their individual inscriptions, this project democratises access to memory and gives visibility to socially vulnerable groups. 

Based on the experiences from the three main initiatives developed within the scope of the IS-UP Nucleus of the ‘Museu da Pessoa’, a reflection is made on the contributions of these initiatives. Framed by a theoretical-methodological framework related to the use of life stories in sociological research and situated in three different socio-territorial contexts in the northern region of Portugal, these initiatives focus on different social issues. They allow reflections and analyses on various forms of social inequality. It is argued that this model enables simultaneous knowledge acquisition, participation, and communication, combining fundamental research with the transfer and co-production of knowledge.