Comissões Unitárias de Mulheres do Porto: Recreating the Memory of a Social Movement

Resumo

The Comissões Unitárias de Mulheres do Porto (Unitary Commissions of Women from Porto) were a movement of social struggle that has emerged and intervened in Porto between 1976 and 1990 which was mobilized in the strive for better living conditions and against governmental policies felt as harmful to the population. The memory of this movement is scarce and its historical accounts are too few and scattered. Starting from a set of public documents about this movement which were donated to one of the researchers, we tried to recreate the memory of this social movement, integrating it in a line of oral and social history research on the twentieth century’s Porto. In this article we will be focusing on the theoretical and methodological foundations of this research project. The methodological path chosen for this project is based on documental analysis and oral history, seeking to revive the individual and collective memories of these protagonists, not only recreating the memory of this social movement but also to acknowledge the importance of the participation in these social struggles for these women.