Biography

Rita Luís (PhD at Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona, 2015) is specialized in the history of mass media in the context of the Iberian dictatorships of the 20th Century. Her dissertation, which was awarded the 2017 International Prize for Doctoral Research of the History of Communication Association (ASHISCOM), concerned the reception of the Portuguese revolutionary Process of 1974-1975 in the late-Francoist press.

She currently works as a researcher at the University of Évora, at the Institute of Contemporary History, where she coordinates the Research Group in Culture and was a member of the Board of Directors from 2021 to 2022. Se developed a project funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology on the practice and daily life of Iberian censorship (CEECIND/02813/2017) and was the PI of the exploratory project Censorship(s): an analytical model of censorship processes (EXPL/COM-OUT /0831/2021). Previous work includes the field education and argumentation, namely in the didactic of history, and the role of the public television in developing an image of the colonies. She maintains a close collaboration with the Journalism Research Group (Grup de Recerca en Periodisme) at the UPF in Barcelona.

Research fields

• Communication media
• Censorships
• Regulatory/exclusionary practices in public spaces
• Production/circulation/reception

Selected publications

• Luís, Rita, “O império colonial português e a televisão,” in Cultura Popular e Império. As lutas pela conquista do consumo cultural em Portugal e nas suas colónias, organised by Nuno Domingos, 241-279. Lisbon: Imprensa de Ciências Sociais, 2021. [link]
• Luís, Rita. “Negativity, conflict and resistance: The Portuguese revolutionary process (1974‐75) and its international mediations ‐ Spanish newspapers and the Inter Press Service,” International Journal of Iberian Studies 33 (2020): 139-155. [link]
• Luís, Rita & Chrysi Rapanta. “Towards (Re-)Defining historical reasoning competence: A review of theoretical and empirical research,” Educational Research Review 31 (2020): 100336. [link]
• Luís, Rita, Espanhóis em Portugal: ócio, militância e exílio no contexto do processo revolucionário (1974–1975),” in Iberian Studies: Reflections Across Borders and Disciplines, edited by Núria Codina Solà and Teresa Pinheiro, 115-137. Berlin: Peter Lang, 2019. [link]
• Pont-Sorribes, Carles, José M. Sanmartí & Rita Luis. “Aproximación etnográfica del periodista de la Transición como fuente histórica: Estudio de la relación con los actores políticos y de los cambios en la producción de los medios escritos,” Historia y Comunicación Social 22 (2017): 141-156. [PDF]

Main projects

• Coordinator of the project “Censorship(s): an analytical model of censorship processes” — Hosted by the IHC and funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (EXPL/COM-OUT/0831/2021; https://doi.org/10.54499/EXPL/COM-OUT/0831/2021). 2022-2023 [link]
• Researcher in the project “Portuguese Colonial Empire and Urban Popular Culture: comparing visions from the metropolis and the colonies (1945-1974)” — Coordinated by Nuno Domingos (ICS — ULisboa) and funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (PTDC/CPC-CMP/2661/2014). 2018 [link]
• Researcher in the project “Ortodoxias y rebeldías. La pluralidad de intereses en la convergencia peninsular hacia Europa (1961-1986)” — Coordinated by Alberto Carrillo Linares and Ángeles González Fernández (Universidad de Sevilla) and funded by the Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (Spain). 2016-2018 [HAR2015-65909-R]
• Researcher in the project “REVTRANS- El papel de la prensa no diaria en la transición española. Información, política y partidos (1975-1982)” — Coordinated by Jaume Guillamet (Universitat Pompeu Fabra) and funded by the Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (Spain). 2016-2018 [CSO2015-67752-P]
• Researcher in the project “PreTRANS- El papel de la prensa en la Transición democrática. Cobertura informativa y comportamiento de periódicos y periodistas” — Coordinated by Jaume Guillamet (Universitat Pompeu Fabra) and funded by the Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (Spain). 2013-2015 [CSO2012-36774]