Biography

José Miguel Ferreira is a researcher at the Institute of Contemporary History. He graduated in History from NOVA FCSH and completed his MA in Modern History and the Discoveries at the same school. In 2021, he completed his PhD thesis at the ICS — University of Lisbon, within the doctoral programme PIUDHist, with a research focused on the relations between agriculture, forestry policies, and colonialism in Goa in the nineteenth century. His areas of research include the history of Portuguese colonialism in Asia, environmental history, and the history of historiography.

Research fields

• History of colonialism
• Environmental history of empires
• History of Goa
• History of historiography

Selected publications

• Ferreira, José, “The Forest or the Tree? Colonial Forestry and Environmental Debates in the Goan Periodical Press,” in The Built Environment through the Prism of the Colonial Periodical Press, edited by Alice Santiago Faria, Anne Shelley and Sandra Ataíde Lobo. Abingdon: Routledge, 2023. [link]
• Roque, Ricardo & José Miguel Ferreira, “Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino,” in Ecos Coloniais: Histórias, Patrimónios e Memórias, organised by Ana Guardião, Miguel Bandeira Jerónimo and Paulo Peixoto, 13-21. Lisbon: Tinta da China, 2022. [link]
• Ferreira, José Miguel Moura. “‘Rugged Hills’, ‘Dense Forests’ and ‘Backward People’. Imagining Landscapes in Nineteenth-Century Colonial Goa,” International Journal for History, Culture and Modernity 7 (2019): 142-170. [PDF]
• Ferreira, José Miguel Moura. ““Goa is a Paradise”: florestas, colonialismo e modernidade na Índia Portuguesa (1851-1910),” Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais 115 (2018): 137-158. [PDF]

Main projects

• Researcher in the project “Indigenous colonial archives: Micro-histories and comparisons” — Coordinated by Ricardo Roque (ICS — University of Lisbon) and funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (PTDC/HAR-HIS/28577/2017). 2019-2022 [link]
• Researcher in the project “Prosopografia das Comunidades Lusófonas residentes e de passagem nas Filipinas (1582-1654)” [Prosopography of the Lusophone Communities living and passing through the Philippines (1582-1654)] — Coordinated by Elsa Penalva (CHAM — NOVA FCSH) and funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (PTDC/HIS-HIS/114992/2009). 2012-2014 [link]
• Researcher in the project “Colonial Mimesis in Lusophone Asia and Africa” — Coordinated by Ricardo Roque (ICS — University of Lisbon) and funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (PTDC/HAR-HIS/28577/2017). 2012-2013 [link]