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Activity Funded

Centre of 20th Century Interdisciplinary Studies

Centro de Estudos Interdisciplinares

Reference
UIDB/00460/2020
Project Start Date
2020-01-01
Project End Date
2024-12-31
Principal Investigator
Funding Program
Concurso de avaliação no âmbito do Programa Plurianual de Financiamento de Unidades de I&D (2017/2018) - Financiamento Base

Abstract

10.2 Summary in English for general dissemination purposes The Center for Interdisciplinary Studies of the 20th Century – CEIS20 is a research unit of the University of Coimbra, linked to the Institute of Interdisciplinary Research and funded since 1998 by the Foundation for Science and Technology. Its work is particularly focused on determining contemporaneity and dedicated especially to the study of contemporary societies, paying particular attention to the Lusophone sphere as a scientific reference, aligning itself with the strategy of affirming the University of Coimbra as an academic reference for Lusophone countries. Special attention is given to the in-depth knowledge of the conditions of production and reproduction in Portuguese society, focusing particularly on how society positions itself in the 20th century and in its digressions. The Center is organized internally into seven transdisciplinary research groups: History and Memory; Europeism, Atlanticity and Globalization; History and Sociology of Science and Technology; Artistic Currents and Intellectual Movements; Educational Policies and Organizations and Educational Dynamics; Communication, Journalism and Public Space; Digital Humanities. In order to deepen this broad-scale reading of our contemporary position, the Center anchors its activities from 2013-2014 in two lines of research (intergroup, interdisciplinary, multiannual): 1. Two centuries of liberalism, 1820-2020: forms of state, social movements and devices of subjectivation; 2. Mobility: individuals and ideas between places. CEIS20 promotes advanced training, namely through the PhD Course in Contemporary Studies and a post-doctoral course. It develops other forms of post-graduate training and encourages the training of young researchers in the promotion of research. It hosts a significant number of postdoctoral researchers, both Portuguese and foreign, and publishes the peer-review journal Estudos do Século XX, and is also linked to the scientific publications Debater a Europa, dedicated to European issues, and Mediapolis, on media, journalism and public space studies. The editorial structure of the Center also includes the Cadernos do CEIS20 (reflective essays on a particular and innovate theme) and nine editorial collections, in partnership with several Portuguese editors. Clearly, CEIS20 is a reference center in the field of humanities, especially at the level of contemporary studies, establishing over the course of its two decades of existence a strong relationship (e.g., in the formation and promotion of networks and working groups; knowledge transfer; coordination of research works and projects) with other research centers and universities, as well as with public entities, business and civil society at local (Coimbra), regional (Centre of Portugal), national and international levels. 10.3 Summary in English for evaluation The activity plan has two major research objectives. Firstly, the study of Portuguese society within the framework of the enduring force of the liberal matrix, in its multiple and contradictory political, social, economic and cultural configurations. Secondly, analyze how the Portuguese specificities of that liberal matrix defined its position in Europe and in the world during contemporaneity. It is based on the hypothesis that the 20th century concentrates the basic elements of those configurations and the study of that period, methodologically grounded, therefore allowing access to the formation processes of those configurations. The work done by CEIS20 strengthened that hypothesis and tried to open new and innovative prospects. The 20th century will continue to be a privileged object of knowledge. The activities of CEIS20 date back to that century, since its foundation in 1998, before the concept of century raised in and of itself the theoretical interest it receives. Our conviction has grown stronger that only the combination of a more precise focus, on a broader scale, will allow us to deepen the knowledge that we have defined as a mission. The 7-group structure and the two research lines needed to be seen as a continuity process from the strategic plan defined in 2013-2014 and they materialize this conviction. It is imperative, however, that the chronological expansion of the field of study be clearly understood as a fundamental resource for understanding the 20th century as a place of deep dynamics and paying particular attention to the Lusophone sphere as a scientific reference, aligning itself with the strategy of affirming the University of Coimbra as an academic reference for the Lusophone countries. The two thematic lines were implemented in order to deepen the broad-scale reading of our contemporary position. They must be seen as anchors of research dynamics of CEIS20 with the following special characteristics: intergroup, interdisciplinary and multiannual. The Line 1 is called Two centuries of liberalism, 1820-2020: forms of state, social movements and devices of subjectivation. It uses as a chronological reference, the establishment of liberalism (1820) in Portugal, as a starting point for a broad focus on the complexity of liberalism as regime, order of thought and attitude. The Line 2 is less chronological, and is called Mobilities: individuals and ideas between places. It gathers research that seeks to identify, value and investigate processes of mobility of people and ideas. Issues like migrations and exiles or post-colonial awareness will be the subject of special interest, to develop an approach to the relationships between spaces and identities, bounded by the irreducible problem of the origin and by the purpose of enlisting the study of the circulation of people, goods and ideas in the deepening of cross-national and cross-cultural concerns. The two lines do not replace or devalue the set of existing groups. Quite the contrary. The lines only fulfill their purposes with the newness, precision and deepening of the research carried out in each group, the dynamics of which must be reinforced. It is in the groups that the most demanding disciplinary specialization work is carried out, which is indispensable for creating plans of increasing extensive multi and interdisciplinary comprehension. The broad scale of the lines and the disciplinary specialization of the groups form the structural coordinates of CEIS20’s international affirmation. This affirmation results from the active participation in the processes of producing new knowledge, in areas that CEIS20 feels especially qualified for, according to international criteria and in international spaces dedicated to the exchange of knowledge and debate in CEIS20’s privileged research areas, which the composition of lines and groups (History and Memory; Europeism, Atlanticity and Globalization; History and Sociology of Science and Technology; Artistic Currents and Intellectual Movements; Educational Policies and Organizations and Educational Dynamics; Communication, Journalism and Public Space; Digital Humanities) rightly identify. The PhD Course in Contemporary Studies is a place of excellence where the communication/exchange of knowledge, produced at CEIS20 initiates a process of innovation and discussion. It is, therefore, a fundamental laboratory for identifying new lines of research, building original hypotheses and guiding research towards ground-breaking scientific production, and sustaining a coherent participation in the processes of knowledge production. The significant number of doctoral students legitimizes an optimistic perspective for this new plan of activities. Additionally, the Post-doctoral Course established in 2015-2016 with the purpose of giving greater consistency to the assimilation of researchers who seek CEIS20 to carry out their research. The publishing activities of CEIS20, in open access, will be maintain and reinforced, as well as the coordination of the reference peer-review journal Estudos do Século XX and the two thematic online journals Debater a Europa and Mediapolis. The regular publication of Cadernos do CEIS20 (essays booklets) will be also a priority, plus the nine editorial collections. Creation and promotion of networks and working groups, knowledge transfer with businesses, public administration, municipalities and civil society, and a strong presence to jointly solve problems related to low density territories, such as the Centre Region of Portugal, will be key issues for CEIS20. All these should be seen as vehicles for the dissemination of knowledge, in their own field, scientific spreading out and social impact. CEIS20 will continue to tread the knowledge path initiated in 1998 in the field of humanities, establishing prolific and strong relationships with the academia, public administration, companies and civil society, from local to global levels.

Institutions

Main Institutions

  • Universidade de Coimbra Centro de Estudos Interdisciplinares do Século XX (CEIS20)
  • Universidade de Coimbra (UC)

Funding 1.371.750,00 €

Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - Portugal

1.371.750,00 €