
Women writing and family archives
Dec 27, 2019 | Chapters, Publications

Women writing and family archives: the missing story
- Pedro Urbano
- Recovered voices, newfound questions: family archives and historical research
- Maria de Lurdes Rosa, Rita Sampaio da Nóvoa, Alice Borges Gago e Maria João da Câmara (Coords.)
- 2019
- Coimbra: Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra
- Language: English
- ISBN: 978-989-26-1793-0 / 978-989-26-1794-7 (online)
- 287-299
The history of womankind can only be properly explored by looking at the writings of women themselves. Because of this, family archives are essential to reconstruct women’s biographies historically, which frequently are unknown. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how family archives, and especially biographical writing, make it possible to learn more about the universe of women, in particular in nineteenth-century Portugal. Since most of the examples available concern the aristocracy of the time, some characteristics can be detected that define this writing and the social group it belongs to.
Key-words:
women’s writing; family archives; aristocracy; history of women; history of nineteenth-century Portugal
About the book (from the foreword):
At the core of this book are private archives, specifically family archives. Although it centers mainly around Portugal and its sphere, it provides insights also on the archives of France and of the Canary Islands. The book ends with a theoretical essay that intersects with other kinds of archives. Covering a long time span (from the later Middle Ages until today), these studies have a strong focus on the ancien régime family archives, understood as living archives, with changing purposes, dimension, the type of documents and information, location, ownership, custody, arrangement, classification, finding aids, uses, and value.
Other publications
Search
Events
fevereiro, 2023
Tipologia do Evento:
Todos
Todos
Colloquium
Conference
Conference
Congress
Course
Cycle
Debate
Exhibition
Launch
Lecture
Meeting
Movie session
Open calls
Opening
Other
Presentation
Round table
Seminar
Showcase
Symposium
Tour
Workshop
- Event Name
seg
ter
qua
qui
sex
sab
dom
-
-
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28

Detalhes do Evento
Symposium on the contexts, the causes and the social, economic and ecological consequences of droughts and famines in former Portuguese colonial Africa. Drought, Famine and Portuguese Colonialism in Africa
Ver mais
Detalhes do Evento
Symposium on the contexts, the causes and the social, economic and ecological consequences of droughts and famines in former Portuguese colonial Africa.
Drought, Famine and Portuguese Colonialism in Africa
History and Memory (19th-21st centuries)
We are pleased to announce Drought, Famine and Portuguese Colonialism in Africa – History and Memory (19th-21st centuries), a two-day international symposium hosted by the Institute of Contemporary History (NOVA FCSH), Centro Interuniversitário de História das Ciências e da Tecnologia (NOVA FCT), Instituto de Ciências Sociais (UL) and Global Health and Tropical Medicine (NOVA IHMT), and to be held at the National Library of Portugal, in Lisbon, on February 2-3, 2023.
Over the last decades scholarly contributions have shown to what extent the African continent is particular vulnerable to drought and famine and how the combination of arid soils and irregular rainfall has had dramatic consequences for human and animal populations and ecologies. They have also demonstrated how (post-) colonial policies between the 19th and 21st centuries impacted upon African populations and their responses to these phenomena, but also how different scientific disciplines attempted to address the particular challenges that African environments posed. Not all regions and historical periods have however received the same scholarly attention, and there is still a significant knowledge gap when it comes to understanding the complex relationship between drought, famine and Portuguese colonialism in Africa.
This symposium aims to bring together graduate students and early-career and established scholars from different disciplines to discuss the contexts, the causes and the social, economic and ecological consequences of droughts and famines in former Portuguese colonial Africa. It also aims to promote a debate on the responses that populations and governments developed to drought and famine, while engaging with the relevant scholarship in the field of environmental history, climate history, social history, imperial history, the history of science, the history of health and migration history. It seeks to advance knowledge on drought and famine in these territories in the 19th and 20th centuries, both through site-specific and broader regional or comparative approaches. Recognising the importance of understanding in particular how famines were lived and are remembered in post-independence Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa, the symposium also seeks to discuss the question of memory and the lived and transmitted experiences of individuals and communities that faced great loss of life, hardship and trauma.
Call for papers
The symposium organisers invite papers centred on former Portuguese colonies in Africa that address, but are not limited to, the following topics:
• Sources for the history of drought and related climatic events;
• Local understandings and knowledge on drought and famine;
• Local agricultural, social and economic coping strategies to deal with drought and famine;
• The history of food systems, food security and of specific crops or practices used to prevent famine;
• Colonial responses to drought and famine and their impact upon affected populations;
• Demographic, social and economic consequences of drought and famine in the colonial and post-colonial periods;
• Drought, famine, human migration and uprooted populations;
• Public health, nutrition, drought and famine;
• Legacies of colonial responses to drought and famine in post-colonial Africa;
• Post-colonial responses to drought and famine and their impact;
• Memory of drought and famine in colonial and post-colonial Africa;
• Silences and knowledge gaps in the historiography of drought and famine in former Portuguese colonies in Africa.
Perspectives from environmental history, social history, imperial history, the history of science and the history of health, but also anthropology, migration studies and post-colonial studies, are welcome. We particularly encourage graduate students and scholars from Portuguese-speaking Africa to apply.
Official languages of the symposium: Portuguese and English
The symposium has no registration fee.
If on-going restrictions preclude the possibility of a face-to-face meeting, the symposium will be held in a hybrid or virtual format.
Submission process
Submissions in Portuguese or English should be sent to droughtandfaminesymposium2023@gmail.com by May 16, 2022 and will include:
Name(s);
Email contact(s);
Institutional affiliation;
A short biography of the author(s) (max. 100 words);
Title of presentation;
Abstract (max. 300 words).
Selected contributions will be part of an edited volume.
Timeline
May 16, 2022: Deadline for submission of abstracts;
June 30, 2022: Notification of decision on acceptance of abstracts;
July 15, 2022: Symposium preliminary programme.
Organisers
Pedro Aires Oliveira (IHC — NOVA FCSH / IN2PAST)
Cláudia Castelo (ICS — ULisboa)
Bárbara Direito (CIUHCT — NOVA FCT)
Philip J. Havik (GHTM — NOVA IHMT)
If you have any questions, please contact the symposium organisers at droughtandfaminesymposium2023@gmail.com
>> Download the call for proposals (PDF) <<
Tempo
2 (Quinta-feira) 9:00 am - 3 (Sexta-feira) 4:00 pm
Organizador
Several institutions
News
Victor Pereira receives Aristides de Sousa Mendes Award
Dec 8, 2022
Victor Pereira was one of the winners of the 2022 edition of the Aristides de Sousa Mendes Award.
IHC Contributes to the Memory of Portuguese Diplomacy
Dec 5, 2022
The website of the project Oral Memory of Portuguese Diplomacy has been published.
Fernando Ampudia de Haro — In Memoriam
Dec 3, 2022
Note of regret of the Board of Directors of the IHC on the passing of Fernando Ampudia de Haro.
CONTACTS
WORKING HOURS


