Biography

Pedro Mota Tavares has a PhD in History, specializing in Contemporary History, and a Master’s in History and Heritage from the Faculty of Arts of the University of Porto, since 2019.

He is an integrated researcher at the Institute of Contemporary History since 2021, with a main research interest is the study of resources in shaping the composition of the cultural landscapes and agrarian metabolisms, in the 18th and 19th centuries, mainly targeting the border area in the Northeast of Portugal. He works with methodologies for reconstructing and reading the changes caused in the landscape, based on historical perspective and comparative analysis.

Since 2020, he is as an external collaborator in the multidisciplinary research project “COMON: Analyse des «communaux» en territoire de montagne”, coordinated by Jean-François Joye (CDPPOC – Faculté de Droit de Chambéry) and funded by the Fondation Université Savoie Mont Blanc.

Research fields

• Economic and social history
• Environmental history
• History of landscapes and natural resources – 18th-19th cent.
• Frontier studies

Selected publications

• Tavares, Pedro Mota, “Biens communaux et communautés de montagne dans la région portugaise de Trás-os-Montes (1766-1939),” in Les biens communaux / propriétés foncières collectives au 21ème siècle. De l’histoire aux utilités modernes, edited by Jean-François Joye. Chambéry: Fondation Université Savoie Mont Blanc, in press.
• Tavares, Pedro Mota, “A exploração dos baldios em Trás-os-Montes (sécs. XVIII-XIX),” in Paisagens culturais: heranças e desafios no território. Atas do VIII Congresso de Estudos Rurais & VIII Encontro Rural RePort, edited by Orlando Simões, 238–249. Lisbon: SPER, 2021.
• Tavares, Pedro Mota. “Cultivo e consumo da batata em Trás-os-Montes: impactos socioeconómicos nos séculos XVIII-XIX,” Brigantia, 33 (2020): 65-78 [PDF]
• Tavares, Pedro Mota. “Rio de Onor / Rihonor de Castilla: o entendimento de um passado comum nas descrições do lugar (sécs. XVIII-XIX),” Brigantia, 36-37 (2019): 441-454. [PDF]

Main projects

• Collaborator in the project “COMON: Analyse des «communaux» en territoire de montagne” — Coordinated by Jean-François Joye (CDPPOC – Faculté de Droit de Chambéry) and funded by Fondation Université Savoie Mont Blanc. 2018-2021 [link]