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Terceira Island hosts a Carnival that enjoys unique features in the landscape of European folklore. It involves a major share of the resident population, it takes place on stages scattered all over the island, and it involves a blend of dancing, music, and acting. This paper presents the preliminary results of a collaborative project between native and foreign scholars, with the activist goal of providing Terceira's Carnival with visibility in order to ensure its preservation. Documentary evidence and fieldwork activities undertaken in 2020 provide grounds to interpret Terceira's Carnival as a multi-modal endeavour that nurtures social cohesion through mythopoesis, subversion of hegemonic roles, and the distribution of leadership to folk elites. As such, we argue that Terceira's Carnival does not fit traditional scholarly views on European Carnivals. Additionally, we show that, thanks to its ability to trigger identity-making processes, this Carnival is a case for cultural sustainability: in fact, it ensures the preservation of communal bonds in face of changing global and regional social landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper highlights the relationships between tourism, migration, and peace in the context of the present refugee crisis. It focuses on the case of Lampedusa, an island that is not only an important tourist destination but also a major gateway for migrants trying to reach Europe. In 2016, it hosted the first exhibition of the “Museum of Trust and Dialogue for the Mediterranean.” Lampedusa is the only local community that was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, and in 2017, its mayor received the UNESCO Peace Prize. The research shows how the island is still in search of a balance between local identity and global processes, and discusses its possible role as a social laboratory for peace and mutual understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]