Plano estratégico |
Strategic project |
Connecting Societies
To observe and inquire societies through a connective and comparative approach furthers and deepens our understanding of the past.
Communities throughout history, and the human experiences and achievements they encompass, should not be analysed under the weight of their supposed motionless and isolated geniality. Such assessments miss the human capacity to adapt, adjust and innovate, often in response to historical change and in connection to the larger world of interconnected histories. Here the interplay of both societies and individuals bring about the documented realisation of their movements and representation of their perspectives. History frequently shows how societies, ever in flux and both expansive and inflective in their motion, are not to be understood only in relation to themselves, but also as connected to one another and to the global stage itself.
The Centre for History of the University of Lisbon fully embraces this perspective through its strategic programme for the 2018 22 quinquenium. Furthermore, this research unit and the proposals put forward within its programme espouse the view that Portugal and Lisbon are viewpoints particularly prone for historical research and reflection along those methodological and historiographical premises. Moreover, this programme follows the already built capacity and developed skills and expertise within the unit, whose research tends towards a methodological framework favouring the inquiry of interactions and particular subjects that display and question them.
These fields of inquiry continue to be reflected in the already active research groups – Uses of the Past, Building and Connecting Empires, Cultural Encounters and Intersecting Societies, Court Studies and Diplomacy, Military History – but key issues will broaden the unit ongoing efforts. Environmental History, a field which has been playing a growing role within the Centre, will be formalized with the development of a dedicated research group (2019). The study of Tourism and Leisure throughout history and across various geographies, a subject given to societal encounters and interactions, will be developed through an informal working group. The Centre also intends to renew the area of Maritime History, a deep-rooted area of expertise in the unit, as the modus that often unifies the connected worlds under survey. Finally, Lisbon, a long-lasting multicultural community, ever connecting Iberia to various distant regions and acting as crossroads of cultures and societies, is a prime case study for the proposed approaches. This site often enables observing the intersection of societies, groups and individuals at a global scale from a local, but connected perspective.
Further research is expected to favour relations between societies and their connectedness, particularly with respect to the geographically ample interactions they convey. Three research lines, transversal to the research groups, aim to advance and steer this approach: Mediterranean Studies – reflecting the historical relationships of the Iberian Peninsula within the Mediterranean World and its diversity – African and Atlantic Studies – considering the intertwining of African, American and European Histories across the construction of the Atlantic World – and Asian and Euro-Asian Studies – furthering our knowledge of the regions and societies bordered by the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
The strategic programme also anticipates the reinforcement of the unit involvment within scientific networks, as well as in establishing international partnerships. Further, the Centre will continue to adopt the recommendations and procedures regarding open science directives, mostly through the sustained investment in Digital Humanities resources and skills. These initiatives are to be intertwined with the projects currently in development, including the open access availability of essential sources edited by the Centre and the published output of its researchers. Lastly, the publishing initiatives of the research unit will continue to adopt the best editorial practices of scientific reviewing and open access publishing, and the strategic programme aims to transition these efforts through a new open access, peer reviewed flagship book series, Lisbon Historical Studies.
Communities throughout history, and the human experiences and achievements they encompass, should not be analysed under the weight of their supposed motionless and isolated geniality. Such assessments miss the human capacity to adapt, adjust and innovate, often in response to historical change and in connection to the larger world of interconnected histories. Here the interplay of both societies and individuals bring about the documented realisation of their movements and representation of their perspectives. History frequently shows how societies, ever in flux and both expansive and inflective in their motion, are not to be understood only in relation to themselves, but also as connected to one another and to the global stage itself.
The Centre for History of the University of Lisbon fully embraces this perspective through its strategic programme for the 2018 22 quinquenium. Furthermore, this research unit and the proposals put forward within its programme espouse the view that Portugal and Lisbon are viewpoints particularly prone for historical research and reflection along those methodological and historiographical premises. Moreover, this programme follows the already built capacity and developed skills and expertise within the unit, whose research tends towards a methodological framework favouring the inquiry of interactions and particular subjects that display and question them.
These fields of inquiry continue to be reflected in the already active research groups – Uses of the Past, Building and Connecting Empires, Cultural Encounters and Intersecting Societies, Court Studies and Diplomacy, Military History – but key issues will broaden the unit ongoing efforts. Environmental History, a field which has been playing a growing role within the Centre, will be formalized with the development of a dedicated research group (2019). The study of Tourism and Leisure throughout history and across various geographies, a subject given to societal encounters and interactions, will be developed through an informal working group. The Centre also intends to renew the area of Maritime History, a deep-rooted area of expertise in the unit, as the modus that often unifies the connected worlds under survey. Finally, Lisbon, a long-lasting multicultural community, ever connecting Iberia to various distant regions and acting as crossroads of cultures and societies, is a prime case study for the proposed approaches. This site often enables observing the intersection of societies, groups and individuals at a global scale from a local, but connected perspective.
Further research is expected to favour relations between societies and their connectedness, particularly with respect to the geographically ample interactions they convey. Three research lines, transversal to the research groups, aim to advance and steer this approach: Mediterranean Studies – reflecting the historical relationships of the Iberian Peninsula within the Mediterranean World and its diversity – African and Atlantic Studies – considering the intertwining of African, American and European Histories across the construction of the Atlantic World – and Asian and Euro-Asian Studies – furthering our knowledge of the regions and societies bordered by the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
The strategic programme also anticipates the reinforcement of the unit involvment within scientific networks, as well as in establishing international partnerships. Further, the Centre will continue to adopt the recommendations and procedures regarding open science directives, mostly through the sustained investment in Digital Humanities resources and skills. These initiatives are to be intertwined with the projects currently in development, including the open access availability of essential sources edited by the Centre and the published output of its researchers. Lastly, the publishing initiatives of the research unit will continue to adopt the best editorial practices of scientific reviewing and open access publishing, and the strategic programme aims to transition these efforts through a new open access, peer reviewed flagship book series, Lisbon Historical Studies.
