Pedro Cerdeira was the winner of the fourth edition of the Amílcar Cabral Prize, awarded jointly by the Institute of Contemporary History and the Monument to the Discoveries / Lisboa Cultura. The Portuguese historian, based in Switzerland, was awarded for his article ‘Rural Schools, Farm Co-Operatives and the Late Colonial Recreation of African Rurality in Guinea-Bissau’, published in the e-Journal of Portuguese History in 2025. Of the 14 applications received, the jury considered that ‘the article stood out for the originality of its theme, the methodology adopted and the treatment and use of original sources.’

Pedro Cerdeira is a researcher at the University of Geneva, where he studies the dynamics of power and control in the cities of Guinea-Bissau during the late colonial period, as postdoc of the project ‘Living with authoritarian repression: everyday life history under the Estado Novo in Portugal’s African colonies and in Portugal, 1926-74’. He completed his PhD at the same university in 2022 with the thesis ‘The administrator, the chief, and the officer. Making and remaking the local administration in late colonial Guinea-Bissau (1961-1974)’.

For the first time, the jury also decided to award an Honourable Mention to Vinicius Venâncio, ‘for the clarity of the presentation and the innovative and well-founded approach to the topic’ of the article ‘“Indigenous”, “Indigents” and “Exiles”: Circulations of “Africans” and the Production of Indigeneity in Cape Verde’, also published in 2025 in the e-Journal of Portuguese History. The jury for the fourth edition was composed of Manuela Ribeiro Sanches (IHC), Benedito Machava (Yale University), and Natalia Telepneva (University of Strathclyde).

Created in 2021, the Amílcar Cabral Prize aims to ‘promote scientific research and public debate on anti-colonial resistance and colonial processes that have marked world history from the 15th century to the present day.’ Previous winners were: Ricardo Pérez Haristoy, Sakiru Adebayo, and Esmat Elhalaby.