Collective research project
Bart Vanspauwen and Iñigo Sánchez-Fuarros
2015-2025
This innovative research project examines the significant role of music in air travel experiences, taking Portugal’s flagship carrier (TAP Portugal) as a case study. Dr. Bart Vanspauwen and I investigate how national airlines of former colonial powers strategically utilize music to construct and disseminate specific narratives of national and cultural identity.
The research explores how TAP Portugal’s music programming serves as a vehicle for expressing concepts of portugalidade (Portuguese-ness) and lusofonia (the Portuguese-speaking world), creating sonic environments that reinforce particular cultural connections and historical relationships. Central to this analysis are the complex intersections of empire, mobility, nationalism, cultural diplomacy, and «postcolonial melancholy.»
Our methodological approach combines extensive archival research with in-depth interviews of current and former TAP personnel, providing both historical context and contemporary perspectives. This dual approach reveals how the airline’s musical choices have evolved over time while continuing to reflect and shape Portugal’s relationship with its former colonies and its current position in global networks.
The project contributes to emerging scholarly conversations about sensory dimensions of travel, the sonic curation of national identity, and how cultural diplomacy operates through seemingly peripheral aspects of the travel experience. By examining how music functions aboard national carriers, the research offers new insights into the subtle ways colonial legacies continue to shape contemporary experiences of mobility and cultural exchange.
