Research group: Global History of Labour and Social Conflicts
Coordination: Raquel Varela
The group ‘Global History of Labour and Social Conflicts’ of the IHC is the first Portuguese global history group and the first transdisciplinary group dedicated to the history of labour and the labour movement created in a Portuguese university in the last three decades. It was founded in 2011 at the IHC. The group stands out as the lead centre of renovation of the academic studies on labour, organising the main history of labour and the labour movement events, including the only national congress of history of the labour movement in Portugal.
From its foundation on, the group undertook a set of activities, on a national and international levels, from which we highlight: the organisation of the biannual colloquium of History of the Labour Movement in Portugal (third edition, June 2017); the co-publication of the international academic journal Workers of the World; the co-organization of three world conferences on the study of strikes and social conflicts, and the foundation of the Strikes and Social Conflicts Association.
Among the group’s ongoing projects, we highlight the projects Global History of Labour in the Naval Industry; History of the Labour Relations in the Portuguese Speaking World/Collab; International History of the Port Labour; Impact of Automation in Relative Overpopulation. The research group stands out for its capacity to create partnerships outside the university, with city councils, trade unions, and professional associations.
The group is the founder of the Global Network of Labour Studies (India, March of 2017).
Aims
The resurgence of social conflicts in the last decade propelled the return to academia of the study of the labour movement and social movements. The research group ‘Global History of Labour and Social Conflicts’ aspires to be a part of this process: to recover, foster and disseminate the history of labour, of the labour movement, of the social movements, and of the social conflicts of the 19th and 20th centuries.
The group ‘Global History of Labour and Social Conflicts’ welcomes researchers from national and international universities and research units who study, in the modern and contemporary periods (19th, 20th, and 21st centuries), the labour movement, social movements, strikes and social conflicts, as well as works of theoretical discussion on political and trade union organisations and the history of the socialist political thought, and even research on methodology and historiography of the labour movement and social movements.
Integrated Members
Associated Members
Research fields
▪ History of the labour movement in Portugal;
▪ History of labour;
▪ Global history of labour.
