It was with great dismay that the IHC Board today learned of the death of our colleague Rui Mateus Pereira (b. 1957), victim of a prolonged illness. Having joined the IHC in 2013, within the Research Group “Economy, Society, Heritage, and Innovation”, Rui was a trained anthropologist with a clear historical sensitivity. Its bibliography attests well to this interdisciplinary appetite. Defended in 2005, his doctoral thesis addressed the issue of anthropological knowledge and Portuguese colonial policy under the Estado Novo and, although unpublished, quickly became a reference for scholars of contemporary colonialism. Recently, Rui was also interested in the links between medical knowledge and the military, having been one of the coordinators of the book Centenário da Gripe Pneumónica. A Pandemia em Retrospetiva. Portugal 1918-1919 (with Helena da Silva and Filomena Bandeira, IGAS, 2019).

In addition to a significant career as a public manager, developed within the scope of the IPLB, Lisbon City Council and the Ministry of Justice, Rui also left a mark of his talent and professionalism in several publications he coordinated, such as Oceanos (edited by the National Commission for the Commemoration of the Portuguese Discoveries), Camões, and Cadernos de Estudos Africanos.

To his parents and daughters, Teresa Rita and Laura, the IHC Board presents its most heartfelt condolences and a very solidary hug in this distressing moment that, as a community, we are going through.

Picture: Bruna Valério, 2019