Title Details

"Emilia Viotti da Costa, a finalist in the 1915 Jabuti prize in the Social Sciences category, has quickly earned her a distinguished place among Brazil’s historians through classics such as Da Senzala à Colônia (From Slavery to Free Labor) and Da Monarquia à Republica (From the Monarchy to the Republic), both published by Editora Unesp. In these seminal works, she succeeded in an effort that would continue to mark her career: to recover the voices of ordinary people, voices that had been largely absent in the works of Brazilian historians. Her writings quickly became points of reference for scholars, but also brought new insights into such perennial national issues as authoritarianism and the fragility of democratic institutions.

In sum, her intellectual trajectory was not only innovative and provocative in scholar terms, but also publicly and actively engaged with the Brazilian society, a richly delineated career in 'Brazil: Histories, Texts and Contexts'.

Studies of Brazilian history are written at various moments, from her earliest efforts in the 1950s to the most recent, which date from the past two decades. They all carry a dramatic contemporary vividness and relevance. This is particularly present in the acceptance speech she delivered when she earned the title of Professor Emeritus at University of São Paulo."