IHC researcher Victor Barros was awarded an Honourable Mention at the III International Prize for Historical Research «Agostinho Neto», for the work “Comemorações da Memória do Império nas Colónias durante o Estado Novo: Usos Públicos da História, Colonialismo e Colonização de Imaginários” [Commemorations of the Memory of the Empire in the Colonies during the Estado Novo: Public Uses of History, Colonialism and Imaginaries’ Colonisation].

As stated in the award minutes, the jury decided to attribute this honourable mention to the work of Victor Barros for the “geographical scope of the theme that encompasses the different parts of the old Portuguese colonial empire, with an innovative dimension related to the problem of memory and the imaginary in the colonies”.

The prize winner was Cristina Sá Valentim, from the Center for Social Studies, with the work “Sons do Império, Vozes do Cipale, Canções Cokwe, Poder e Trabalho durante o colonialismo tardio na Lunda, Angola” [Sons of the Empire, Voices of Cipale, Cokwe Songs, Power and Labour during late colonialism in Lunda, Angola]. In the assessment of the competing works, the jury valued the “historiographical relevance, conceptual, methodological and thematic innovation, clarity and coherence of argument and archival research”.

The International Prize for Historical Research «Agostinho Neto» is an initiative of the Dr. António Agostinho Neto Foundation, the Zumbi dos Palmares University, and UNESCO, and aims to “award unpublished research works written about Angola, Africa, Agostinho Neto, Brazil, the Diaspora, and Afrodescendants that contribute to the best knowledge about the history of Angola, Brazil and Africa”.