Rui Cunha Martins
Biography
Rui Cunha Martins is Professor at the University of Coimbra (DHEEAA) and collaborator of several Brazilian institutions, where he carries out research and teaching functions in the area of contemporary studies from a cross-mobilisation of History, Law, Aesthetics and Politics. Among his main areas of study — gradually structured around the problematic of the “contemporary” — are: the question of the aesthetics of change and transitional and memorial modalities; the problematic of the border and the limit in the political and digital horizon; the procedural regimes of evidence, decision, and criticism; and the tension between norm, instinct, and expectation in the context of the intersystemicity of the communicational and legal arenas; lines, therefore, of manifest transdiciplinary confluence. In these areas he has supervised several doctoral, post-doctoral and master’s dissertations.
He is an Integrated Researcher at the Institute of Contemporary History of NOVA University Lisbon, as well as a member of the Ius Gentium Conimbrigae (integrating the respective Board of Directors, coordinating the Luso-Brazilian Academic Relations). He is also a member of the Coordination and Scientific Committee of the Post-Doctoral Course in Democracy and Human Rights at the University of Coimbra.
Research fields
- Theory of the contemporary
- Transitional justice and the politics of memory
- Historiography
- Contemporary history
Selected publications
- Martins, Rui Cunha. O Ponto Cego do Direito: The Brazilian Lessons. 3ª Edição. São Paulo: Atlas, 2013.
- Martins, Rui Cunha (Coord.). Portugal 1974: transição política em perspectiva histórica. Coimbra: Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra, 2011. [link]
- Martins, Rui Cunha. O Método da Fronteira – Radiografia Histórica de um Dispositivo Contemporâneo (Matrizes Ibéricas e Americanas). Coimbra: Almedina, 2008. [link]
Main projects
- Researcher in the project “A matriz oculta da Violência na Modernidade: Crise da Alteridade, da Moral e da Ética” [The Hidden Matrix of Violence in Modernity: Crisis of Alterity, Morality and Ethics] — Coordinated by José Carlos Moreira Filho (PUCRS) and funded by CAPES (Brazil). [link]
- Researcher in the project “Memória, Escrita da História e Cultura Política no Mundo Contemporâneo” [Memory, History Writing and Political Culture in the Contemporary World] — Coordinated by Jacqueline Hermann (UFRJ) and Fernando Catroga (CHSC — University of Coimbra), and funde by CAPES (Brazil) and the Foundation for Science and Technology (Portugal).
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setembro, 2026
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Detalhes do Evento
Conference that seeks to challenge historical revisionism, amplify marginalised voices, and foster transnational dialogues on reconciliation, accountability, and restorative justice. The Public History of Difficult Pasts 8th International
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Detalhes do Evento
Conference that seeks to challenge historical revisionism, amplify marginalised voices, and foster transnational dialogues on reconciliation, accountability, and restorative justice.
The Public History of Difficult Pasts
8th International Conference on Public History
IFPH 2026
The 8th International Conference on Public History, organised by the International Federation for Public History, IFPH, will take place in Lisbon from September 7 to 11, 2026. It will be hosted by IN2PAST – the Associate Laboratory for Research and Innovation in Heritage, Arts, Sustainability and Territory, a transdisciplinary consortium of seven research centres, at the Almada Negreiros College on the Campolide Campus of NOVA University Lisbon.
In a time of escalating attacks by right-wing movements on memory, diversity, human rights, democracy, and history itself, the IFPH reaffirms its commitment to fostering critical engagement with the ways societies confront, interpret, and relate to their difficult pasts and challenging presents. The IFPH strongly condemns book banning, the censorship of historical narratives, the surveillance of students and educators, the targeting of sites of remembrance, and the imposition of ideological agendas — particularly right-wing distortions — that not only threaten academic freedom but undermine the very principles upon which public history is built. Against this backdrop, the conference seeks to challenge historical revisionism and silencing, to amplify marginalised voices and memories, and to promote transnational dialogues on reconciliation, accountability, and restorative justice.
Public History has long addressed global historical processes such as colonialism, the transatlantic slave trade, and the genocide of Indigenous peoples, as well as phenomena that emerge in multiple contexts, including armed conflicts and dictatorships. It embodies both a political and ethical commitment to examining how difficult pasts have been lived and remembered by different communities and individuals, ensuring that their perspectives are acknowledged and respected. At the same time, engaging with these histories through Public History raises significant challenges. Sharing authority with specific communities and amplifying marginalised narratives may unintentionally silence other voices, while also presenting complex ethical dilemmas. Furthermore, Public History operates within the public sphere, engaging diverse audiences and navigating competing representations of the past in an era increasingly marked by the political instrumentalisation of history and the spread of revisionist and denialist discourses.
🔗 Free registration HERE.
Call for contributions
This conference seeks to challenge historical revisionism, amplify marginalised voices, and foster transnational dialogues on reconciliation, accountability, and restorative justice. We invite contributions that explore:
Historical Contexts and Global Processes
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- Colonialism and its enduring legacies
- The transatlantic slave trade and its commemorations
- Indigenous genocide and cultural destruction
- Armed conflicts, civil wars, and their aftermath
- Dictatorships, authoritarianism, and state violence
- Mass atrocities and crimes against humanity
Contemporary Challenges and Methodological Innovations
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- Countering historical denial and revisionism
- Navigating contested memories and competing narratives
- Sharing authority with affected communities
- Ethical dilemmas in representing traumatic pasts
- Digital humanities, media, and social networks
- Museum practices and memorial sites
- Archives, and archival activism
- Educational approaches to sensitive histories
Voices and Perspectives
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- Survivor testimonies and intergenerational trauma
- Community-based historical projects
- Oral history and marginalised narratives
- Gender, sexuality, and intersectional approaches
- Youth engagement with difficult pasts
- Transnational and comparative perspectives
Justice and Reconciliation
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- Truth commissions and transitional justice
- Reparations and historical redress
- Memorialisation and commemoration practices
- Restorative justice approaches
- Healing and collective memory
- Building inclusive historical narratives
Calendar
Opening of the Call for Presentations: 30 September 2025
Deadline for Application: 30 November 7 December 2025 [new deadline]
Deadline for reviewers to do their reviews: 31 January 2026
Call for posters: January 2026
Results of the Call for Presentations will be announced by March 2026
Programme of the conference shall be available around June 2026
Deadline for registration for on-site attendance: August 2026
Conference: 7-11 September 2026
Submission of proposals
🔗 Submit your panel proposal HERE.
🔗 Submit your paper proposal HERE.
🔗 Submit your Working Group proposal HERE.
>> Download the call for papers (PDF) <<
Tempo
7 (Segunda-feira) 11:00 am - 11 (Sexta-feira) 6:00 pm
Organizador
Several Institutions

Detalhes do Evento
A discussion based on the book 'European Perspectives on Transition'. With Pablo Sánchez León and José Neves.
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Detalhes do Evento
A discussion based on the book ‘European Perspectives on Transition‘. With Pablo Sánchez León and José Neves.
Conversa sobre conceitos, transição e revolução
O conceito de transição ocupa um lugar incómodo nos estudos sobre a história europeia contemporânea. Aparentemente incapaz de decifrar os complexos factores que moldam os processos de democratização, parece muitas vezes redundante como estrutura para a compreensão dos desenvolvimentos políticos recentes e em curso. Em European Perspectives on Transition: A Comparative and Transnational Approach to the History of a Political and Social Concept, Pablo Sánchez León e Agustín Cosovschi mostram o contrário, oferecendo uma história conceptual pioneira e muito necessária da transição numa perspectiva comparativa. Reunindo oito estudos de caso sobre o discurso transicional, que vão desde a chamada Terceira Vaga do Sul da Europa na década de 1970 até às mudanças de regime na Europa Central e Oriental, este volume apresenta um novo e importante caminho para o estudo da temporalidade e da transição na Europa.
Conversa entre Pablo Sánchez León e José Neves, com moderação de Rita Luís.
Tempo
(Sexta-feira) 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Organizador
Institute of Contemporary History — NOVA School of Social Sciences and Humanities and Tigre de Papel
News
PHONLAB gives rise to a permanent exhibition at the University of Coimbra
Sep 10, 2026
‘Armando de Lacerda Wing’ opens on 17 September
Lisbon is hosting the 8th International Conference on Public History
Aug 31, 2026
Under the theme ‘The Public History of Difficult Pasts’
Fifth edition of the Amílcar Cabral Prize
Jul 27, 2026
Applications are due by 30 September
CONTACTS
WORKING HOURS


