Biography

Manager and senior technician at Dialogoriginal, Bibliotecas, Museus e Arquivos, Lda., in which he is responsible for the current restructuring the museological project of the Museum of Rurality in the municipality of Castro Verde and coordinating the work of inventorying and cataloguing the archive of the Grémio da Lavoura in this municipality. He is an integrated researcher at NOVA FCSH’s Institute of Contemporary History.

He has a Degree in History from the School of Arts and Humanities of the University of Lisbon (1983), with a Specialization Course in Documentary Sciences from the same School (1996) and a Diploma of Specialization in Educational Sciences (DUECE), in the area of “Evaluation in Education ”, by the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the University of Lisbon. He has a pedagogical certificate for teaching obtained at the Higher School of Education of the Polytechnic Institute of Beja (1986/88) and a Masters in History of the 19th – 20th century (2000) from the NOVA School of Social Sciences and Humanities. He is and doctoral candidate in Contemporary History at the same School, with a thesis, nearing completion, on the revolution and counter-revolution in the fields of Portugal in 1975 – 1977.

His research interests are centred on the agrarian question on 20th century Portugal, on the social struggles in the countryside during the same period and on the revolutionary process that resulted from the 25th of April 1974.

Research fields

• The agrarian question (20th century)
• Social conflicts in the fields (20th century)
• Opposition to the Estado Novo
• The Portuguese revolutionary process and democracy after the 25th of April 1974

Selected publications

• Piçarra, Constantino. “O impacto político, económico e social da reforma agraria nos campos do Sul de Portugal, 1975-1977,” Investigaciones Históricas 40 (2020): 57-84. [link] 🔓
• Louçã, António, Constantino Piçarra, Fernando Rosas, Francisco Louçã, José Manuel Lopes Cordeiro, Miguel Pérez Suárez, Rui Bebiano & Thaiz Senna. A Revolução Russa – 100 Anos Depois. Lisbon: Parsifal, 2017. [link]
• Piçarra, Constantino. As Ocupações de Terras no Distrito de Beja, 1974 – 1975. Coimbra: Almedina, 2008. [link]
• Piçarra, Constantino, “O Movimento Social dos Assalariados Agrícolas do Distrito de Beja,” in Uma Revolução na Revolução: Reforma Agrária no Sul de Portugal, directed by António Murteira. Porto: Campo das Letras, 2014.

Main projects

• Inventory and cataloging of the Grémio da Lavoura de Castro Verde. Coordination: Dialogoriginal, Bibliotecas, Museus e Arquivos, Lda — Funded by the Castro Verde Municipality.