The following posts were taken from my Environmental Anthropology MSc thesis, “Cultivating ferality: the story of ‘eucalyptisation’ and the emergence of firescapes in central Portugal”. The thesis was based on two months of ethnographic fieldwork at a quinta (farmstead) in a small hamlet outside the town of Sertã (though in the municipality of the same name), in the densely forested Castelo Branco (formerly Beira Baixa) district of central Portugal. The town has a population of just over 6,000, the municipality 16,000. Historically, the economy was dominated by agriculture and the primary sector, but today most working people are employed in the services sector. It’s located in the foothills of the Serra dos Alvelos, a small mountain range that abuts the large Serra de Estrela to its north. A short drive up the main road lies Pedrogão Grande, the epicentre of the infamous megafires of 2017, the first of their kind in Portugal. This region of Portugal is known as the fire capital of Europe. My stay, from the beginning of May to the end of June, coincided with the build-up and start of the traditional fire season (June-October).
The quinta is owned by Paul, who moved from his native London 13 years ago. He lives there with his girlfriend, Julia, of German-Brazilian origin, alongside their three dogs, and an always-changing array of volunteers. Paul and Julia are part of a large, multinational community, which consists of both expats and native Portuguese. They host an ever-changing array of volunteers, mostly white, educated, northern Europeans, which helps to create a vibrant social life. In the last few decades, increasing numbers of Northern Europeans have been moving
The Tree with a Thousand Faces 