THE HISTORY OF LISBON’S NIGHT

Date: January 14 to February 8, 2025
Schedule: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 6:00 PM to 8:30 PM | February 8 (Saturday), 2:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Duration: 25 hours | 2 ECTS
Location: NOVA FCSH

Field: History, Heritage, and Culture
Lead Instructor: Luís Manuel Duarte Antunes Figueiredo Trindade
Instructor: Rosa Maria Fina
Accreditation by CCPFC: No

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OBJECTIVES

• Introduce the emerging scientific field of Night Studies.
• Communicate the key characteristics of the history of the night.
• Compare various episodes from Lisbon’s nocturnal history (19th and 20th centuries).
• Reflect on specific events related to the history of Lisbon’s night.

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PROGRAM

As our understanding of cities deepens, it becomes clear that the night is not simply the absence of light but a period with its own social, cultural, and economic dynamics. Lisbon, with its rich history and vibrant nightlife, offers an ideal setting to explore this phenomenon.

The night transforms the city. Streets used for work during the day become spaces for leisure and socializing at night. Bars, clubs, restaurants, as well as squares and parks, take on new roles and meanings. In this context, the night emerges as a complex and dynamic social space where identities and relationships are forged.

Often overlooked by official history, the night provides a valuable lens through which to understand social customs and urban life. It reveals a city that, over centuries, has continuously reinvented and adapted itself. For instance:

• In medieval Lisbon, the night was a time of retreat. Poorly lit streets were fraught with dangers, and people would stay in their homes, limiting nocturnal activities. Even then, some clandestine events and secret gatherings took place.
• With the advent of public lighting in the late 18th century, Lisbon’s night began to change. Cafés, theaters, and gambling houses emerged, offering new forms of entertainment.
• From the 19th century, the night became a space of socialization and amusement, particularly for the elites. As the city developed in the latter half of the 19th century, bohemian neighborhoods like Alfama and Bairro Alto became vibrant hubs of nightlife.
• The 20th century saw significant transformations in Lisbon’s nightlife. While events like World War II and the Estado Novo regime left lasting marks, the night consistently found ways to reinvent itself. The 1920s-1950s were characterized by cultural dynamism, while the 1960s-1970s witnessed major social shifts.

The course, while unable to cover the full diversity of Lisbon’s nocturnal history, will focus on themes such as:

• Bohemian nights.
• Night and literature.
• Night work.
• Mythical and real figures of Lisbon’s night.
• Queer nightlife.
• The formation of Bairro Alto as a nightlife district.
• Cinema and literature: The Night and the Laughter (Nuno Bragança) and The Green Years (Paulo Rocha).

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Ekirch, Roger A. (2005). At Day’s Close: Night in Times Past. New York/London: W. W. Norton & Company.
• Fina, Rosa Maria (2016). “Portugal Nocturno e a ameaça do dia: A Ideia de Noite na Cultura Portuguesa (18th-20th centuries).” Doctoral Thesis, University of Lisbon.
• Kalifa, Dominique (2019). Vice, Crime and Poverty: How the Western Imagination Invented the Underworld. New York: Columbia University Press.
• Palmer, Brian D. (2000). Cultures of Darkness: Night Travels in the Histories of Transgression. New York: MRP.
• Schlör, Joachim (1998). Nights in the Big City. London: Reaktion Books.

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TUITION

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INSTRUCTORS

Luís Trindade
An integrated researcher at the IHC – Institute of Contemporary History / IN2PAST – Associated Laboratory for Research and Innovation in Heritage, Arts, Sustainability, and Territory. Previously a professor of Portuguese and European Studies at Birkbeck, University of London (2007-2019), and of Contemporary History at the Faculty of Arts, University of Coimbra (2020-2023). In 2006-2007, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris. He currently leads the IHC and teaches at NOVA FCSH.

Rosa Maria Fina
Holds a BA in Portuguese Studies (2003), a postgraduate degree in Brazilian and African Studies (2005), a master’s degree in Cultural Sciences – Artistic Culture (2011), and a PhD in Contemporary History (2016) with a dissertation on the history of the night in Lisbon. She has contributed to projects such as “On Violence: Representations of Violence in Portuguese-Language African Literatures” (2017-2020) and AFROLAB (2020-2023). A collaborator at the IHC, her scientific output (conferences, articles, and book chapters) on the history of the night has been published in Portugal and abroad. She is a member of the International Night Studies Network and has an interdisciplinary approach, publishing works on Portuguese, Brazilian, and Portuguese-speaking African cultures and literature. Currently, she is a Science Manager at the IHC at NOVA FCSH.

https://www.fcsh.unl.pt/outros-cursos/a-historia-da-noite-de-lisboa

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