From local fairs to televisual feasts: negotiating visibilities in the portuguese territory

Abstract

Visibility as a social dimension which encompasses an extensive array of practices, discourses and processes has deserved scarce attention from the social sciences, despite the fact that a great deal of contemporary social phenomena are closely linked to concerns about being / not being visible – such as heritage and tourism. This article adresses mechanisms of producing visibility, namely the relationships between local fairs and events and the touring of national TV shows. Based on an ethnographic study conducted among the production team responsible for the show Somos Portugal (We Are Portugal), broadcast by the television station TVI on Sundays, I discuss the ongoing processes involved in the commodification of visibility, through which the access to media space is negotiated by a set of professional agents: television producers, event managers, communication professionals, local political agents and their advisors. I argue that, by using elements of local folk culture to inscribe places in contemporary touristic circuits, this commodification responds to the municipalities’ continuous need to perform visibility.