Daughter and granddaughter of ‘alentejanos’ (people with origin in the Alentejo region), Sónia Moreira Cabeça was born in Lisbon. She graduated in 2000 and holds a Master’s (2006) and PhD (2016) degree in Sociology. She worked as a sociologist in the Portuguese Red Cross, in the Professional Employment and Training Institute (Employee Centre of Sines) and in the Municipality of Odemira. Apart from being an integrated member of the Interdisciplinary Centre for History, Culture and Societies (CIDEHUS) at the University of Évora, she was a member of the CreativeMED Project (2013-2015) and continues to be actively involved in the Dynamics of the Cante Alentejano Project (2008 to present). Working in the domains of Ethnossociology, the Sociology of Culture, Cultural Heritage and Intangible Heritage, her main empirical research is devoted to the Cante Alentejano, a traditional way of singing from the Alentejo region, its practices, rules and tradition bearers. Her line of research includes the dynamics and ‘epidemiology’ of cultural practices, the modes of production and emergence of cultural forms, the safeguarding and patrimonialisation of cultural assets, as well as cultural economy and smart specialisation.’
Selected publications on heritage:
- Her PHD thesis “Estrutura e processo de formação das formas culturais – O caso do cante alentejano” (2016) launches the UNESCO Chair’s new Theses series.
- BARATA, Filipe Themudo e CABEÇA, Sónia Moreira (org.) (2015) Livro Branco: o modelo CreativeMed para a Smart Specialisation, ed. autor [ISBN: 978-989-99242-2-2]
- CABEÇA, Sónia Moreira (2015) “Contribuições para a autonomia social e vitalidade do Cante Alentejano”, CEDA/Revista Memória Alentejana, Nov 2015. Pp: 62-63
- CABEÇA, Sónia Moreira e SANTOS, José Rodrigues dos (2014) “Cante Alentejano: reingressos, redes de sociabilidade e espectacularização na construção de uma autonomia em democracia”, in 40 anos de democracia(s): progressos, contradições e prospetivas. Atas do VIII Congresso Português de Sociologia, Lisboa: Associação Portuguesa de Sociologia. [ISBN: 978-989-97981-2-0]
- CABEÇA, Sónia Moreira e SANTOS, José Rodrigues dos Santos (2012) “Eu sou devedor à terra: the bearer’s collectivity of Cante Alentejano” in R. Arimateia e P. Longo (s/d) Oralities Project Digipack – Traditional & Folk Tales – Report (DVD), Évora: Projecto Oralidades [Nº Reg. IGAC: 3572/2014]
- SANTOS, José Rodrigues dos e CABEÇA, Sónia Moreira (colab.) (2010) “Conservação, salvaguarda, criação e culturas orais: uma aproximação conceptual” in S. P. Conde (dir.) Actas da Conferencia da Tradición Oral – Oralidade e Património Cultural, vol I, Ourense: Concello de Ourense (pp 169-187) [ISBN: 978-84-87623-74-5]
- CABEÇA, Sónia Moreira e SANTOS, José Rodrigues dos (2010) “A Mulher no Cante Alentejano” in S. P. Conde (dir.) Actas da Conferencia da Tradición Oral – Oralidade e Património Cultural, vol II, Ourense: Concello de Ourense (pp 31-38) [ISBN: 978-84-87623-75-2]
