Atlantic History and South Atlantic History: An Appraisal

The LACS Bate-Papo Series welcomes distinguished historian Luiz Felipe de Alencastro.

Studies on Atlantic History generally overlook or ignore the differences and specificity of South Atlantic History: bilateral trade linked Brazilian and Africans ports, mainly in Angola. Merchandises, men, royal servants, missionaries, merchants and soldiers crossed the South Atlantic between 1550 and 1850. Today, Brazil has the more important African descent population outside African and, again, an economic, linguistic and cultural network connect different countries and peoples within the South Atlantic. Luiz Felipe de Alencastro is author or editor of several books, including O Tratado dos Viventes: Formação do Brasil no Atlântico Sul, Séculos XVI-XVII, to be published in translation by the University of Texas Press, and História da Vida Privada no Brasil (volume 2). He has published numerous scholarly articles on Brazilian colonial history and the South Atlantic and is a respected public intellectual who regularly writes for major Brazilian newspapers, including Folha de São Paulo. He is a member of the prestigious Academia Europaea. The "Bate Papo" provides informal gatherings of students, scholars, and invited guests to discuss issues of broad contemporary interest. Conversations are primarily in Portuguese, but accessible to beginning Portuguese students.