Patrícia Ferraz de Matos is an anthropologist, Research Fellow at the Institute of Social Sciences (ICS), University of Lisbon (ULisboa). She is Associate Editor of the Anthropological Journal of European Cultures (2020-2024), Convener of the Europeanist Network of EASA (2020-2024) and Deputy Director of the journal Análise Social (2021-2024). She co-coordinated the Seminar of the Research Group Identities, Cultures and Vulnerabilities of the ICS-ULisboa (February 2019 - December 2020). She is Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland.

She has been a member of the teaching staff on the ULisboa PhD Course in Anthropology (DANT) since 2013, where she co-coordinated the curricular unit “Research Seminar in Anthropology” (2013-2020) and coordinated the Postgraduate Seminar in Anthropology (2020-2021). She has collaborated, in a timely manner, in undergraduate and postgraduate courses of other institutions, namely: University of Évora, University of Oxford, University of Cagliari, University of Porto, NOVA University Lisbon, Complutense University of Madrid, University of Lisbon, University of Coimbra, Campinas State University, Autonomous University of Madrid, Federal University of Bahia and Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul.

At ICS-ULisboa, she currently supervises three PhD theses; she regularly supervises visiting doctoral students and visiting researchers. She co-supervises a PhD thesis outside of ICS-ULisboa.

Her current project is entitled “The weavings of science: an anthropological view on the networks underlying the forging of scientific knowledge”, which objective is to study the network of people linked to the Porto School of Anthropology, between the 1910s and the 1970s, and to the Portuguese Society of Anthropology and Ethnology (Sociedade Portuguesa de Antropologia e Etnologia), founded in 1918, in the sense of understanding how scientific societies and their international exchange contributed to the institutionalization of anthropology and what knowledge was produced. The starting point of the research is in Portugal, but it extends to other countries, such as Brazil, taking into account other schools and scientific societies linked to anthropology, such as the Royal Anthropological Institute, which develops a project about its own history, in which she has collaborated.

She graduated in Anthropology (1997) at the Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of Coimbra (FCTUC) with a dissertation entitled “The Way of ‘Art’: We started from objects and returned to objects” (1997) (based on bibliographical research and in the collection of the Museum of Anthropology of the University of Coimbra), which analyzed the anthropological approach to art and the debate about the so-called “primitive art”. This work and the visit to the Angolan field were the bases for writing an article, published in full version as a book chapter.

She worked as Research Assistant (1997-2000), linked to the Anthropology Research Center (CIA) of the then Anthropology Department of FCTUC, in the project “Power and Differentiation on the Coast of Bahia: Cultural Identities, Ethnicity and Race in Multiethnic Contexts” (FCT PRAXIS XXI Program, Project PCSH/ANT/96; PI: Miguel Vale de Almeida), having carried out, under the guidance of Susana de Matos Viegas, field and archive research and built databases of birth, marriage and death records, between 1889-1998, of the population of Olivença (Ilhéus, Bahia, Brazil), which inspired an article, and created the Database “Speeches and Knowledge on Race: Portuguese Bibliography (1870-1970)”.

Her master thesis on Social Sciences (2005, ICS-ULisboa), supervised by José Manuel Sobral, analyzed the racial representations produced in the context of the “Portuguese colonial empire” in the first decades of the 20th century, at the level of scientific production and dissemination of propaganda. This work was awarded the Victor de Sá Prize for Contemporary History, and published in Portuguese by the Imprensa de Ciências Sociais (Lisbon, 2006 [1st edition], 2012 [2nd edition]) and in English by Berghahn Books (Oxford and New York, 2013), and reviewed in Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, American Anthropologist, Social Anthropology, Anthropologie sociale, Journal of Iberian and Latin American Studies, Cahiers d’Études Africaines and Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change.

Her doctoral thesis in Social Sciences, in the specialty of Social and Cultural Anthropology (2012, ICS-ULisboa), supervised by José Manuel Sobral, studied the relations between anthropology, nationalism and colonialism between the end of the monarchy and the end of the New State (Estado Novo), from the personal and intellectual biography of Mendes Correia (1888-1960), having conducted research in Portugal (Lisbon, Porto, Coimbra and Torre de Moncorvo) and in Brazil (Salvador and Rio de Janeiro), and accomplished several interviews. This work was revised and published by Berghahn Books (Oxford and New York, 2023).

She has obtained several research grants in internationally competitive applications, namely at the FCT: Post-Doctoral (SFRH/BPD/91349/2012, 2013-2019), PhD (SFRH/BD/25537/2005, 2005-2009), Master’s Degree (SFRH/BM/2194/2000, 2001-2002), Initiation to Scientific Research (PRAXIS XXI/BIC/14728, 1997-1999), and obtained an internal grant from the ICS-UL (2000).

Prizes: Victor de Sá Prize in Contemporary History 2005 from the Cultural Council of the University of Minho, Portugal; ERICS Prize 2014 (Stimulus and Recognition Award for Internationalization in Social Sciences Prize) from ICS/Caixa Geral de Depósitos; Scientific Prize – Honourable Mention 2019 (ULisboa/Caixa Geral de Depósitos).

She collaborated with several research projects: “Printed Photography and Propaganda in Portugal (1933-1974)” (PTDC/CPC-HAT/4533/2014), PI: Filomena Serra (UNL); “Texts and Contexts of Portuguese Orientalism: The International Congresses of Orientalists (1873-1973) (TECOP)” (PTDC/CPC-CMP/0398/2014), IP: Marta Pacheco Pinto (FLUL); “Women and the Portuguese Colonial Project: Science, Knowledge, Writing (1860-1960)” (PTDC/EPH-HIS/1224/2014), PI: Filipa Lowndes Vicente (ICS-ULisboa), not funded; “Dictionary of Antis: The Portuguese Culture in Negative”, PI: José Eduardo Franco (CLEPUL), with 3 entries; “Knowledge and Vision: photography in the Archive and the Portuguese Colonial Museum (1850-1950)” (PTDC/HIS-HIS/112198/2009), PI: Filipa Lowndes Vicente (ICS-UL), with a chapter; “The Presidents of the Portuguese Parliament, Estado Novo (1935-1974)”, PI: Fernando de Sousa (CEPESE), co-PI: Conceição Meireles Pereira (CEPESE), financed by the Assembly of the Republic, with a chapter; “Power and Differentiation on the Coast of Bahia: Cultural Identities, Ethnicity and Race in Multiethnic Contexts” (PCSH/ANT/96), PI: Miguel Vale de Almeida (IUL), with a Database with 1044 entries.

She edited 4 special volumes: 1. with Michel Cahen (Casa de Velázquez, Université de Bordeaux, CNRS/Sciences Po Bordeaux), New Perspectives on Luso-Tropicalism, Portuguese Studies Review 26 (1), 2018, 350 pp.; 2. with Frederico Delgado Rosa (NOVA University Lisbon) and Eduardo Dullo (Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul), History of World Anthropologies, Horizontes Antropológicos 28 (62), 2022, 438 pp.; 3. with Christian Muleka Mwewa (Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul), Racism(s), Education and Cultural Training, Poiésis 16 (29), 2022; 4. with Hande Birkalan-Gedik (Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main), Andrés Barrera-González (Universidad Complutense de Madrid), and Pegi Vail (New York University), World Fairs, Anthropological Journal of European Cultures 31 (2), 2022.

She organized, with Livio Sansone (Federal University of Bahia), the special section “Decolonising Europe: National and Transnational Projects” to the Anthropological Journal of European Cultures 30 (2), 2021: 79-140.

She prepared (research and concept) with Vítor Oliveira Jorge (FLUP and IHC-UNL) the exhibition “The Portuguese Society of Anthropology and Ethnology (1918-2018): 100 Years at the Service of Science”, held at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Porto (2018-2019).

She organized, with Hande Birkalan-Gedik (Johann – Wolfgang-Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main), Fabiana Dimpflmeier (La Tuscia University of Viterbo) and Frederico Delgado Rosa (NOVA University Lisbon), the conference “Anthropological Pathways and Crossings: Knowledge Production and Transfer in and beyond Europe”, 2021, in the context of EASA, with more than 100 delegates.

She organized and co-organized, among others, panels for the EASA Biennal Conference (Lisbon, 2020; Stockholm,  2018); Congress of the Portuguese Anthropological Association (2022, 2019, 2016 and 2006); Conference of the Lusophone Studies Association (2022); Iberian Congress of African Studies (2014, 2010); and SPAE conference cycle (2017). She joined the Executive Committee of the International Conference Slave Subjectivities in the Iberian World (15th – 20th Centuries) (2018) and the Scientific Committee of the International Conference The Lusophone World: Global and Local Communities (2019) and the Conference “Forty Years of Independence” (2015).

She was a member of the ICS-ULisboa School Board (2009-2011), and a member of the elected Statutory Assembly to review and write ICS-ULisboa statutes (2008).

Her research interests include: history of anthropology; world anthropologies; scientific societies; racism, racial representations and other forms of social discrimination, such as gender discrimination and the representation of women; eugenics; miscigenation; luso-tropicalism; nationalism and national identity; production of scientific knowledge in the colonial context; ideology and colonial propaganda, namely in films and documentaries, and with the exhibition of human beings in expositions; photography; music and popular traditions; technology; networks and cyberculture; and anti-colonialism.

Networks and partnerships: Convener, with Hande Birkalan-Gedik (Goethe Universität, Frankfurt) (2020-2022) and with Panas Karampampas (Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Athens) (2022-2024), of the Europeanist Network (EASA) (2020-2024); correspondent member, in Portugal, of the History of Anthropology Network (HOAN) since 2019; member of the Anthropology of Race and Ethnicity (ARE) Network, since 2020; member of the History of Anthropology Network (HOAN), founded as “The History of European Anthropology Network” (Prague, 1992), since 2016; member of Aleph – Network of action and critical research of the colonial image, since 2015; member of “History of Anthropology Network” (connected to American Anthropological Association), which publish the History of Anthropology Review, since 2009.

Peer review in publications: Afro-Ásia; Análise Social; Anthropological Journal of Europeam Cultures; Berghahn Books; Bloomsbury (London); Brasiliana (King’s College); Cadernos de Estudos Africanos; Citcem (Centro de Investigação Transdisciplinar Cultura, Espaço e Memória); Cuadernos de Historia Contemporánea, U. Complutense de Madrid; Current Research Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities; e-Journal of Portuguese History (Brown University); Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power; Língua-lugar: Literatura, História, Estudos Culturais (Universities of Geneva and Zurich); Lusophone Journal of Cultural Studies; OPHIUSSA; População e Sociedade; Portuguese Journal of Social Science; Portuguese Studies; Portuguese Studies Review; Práticas da História: Journal on Theory, Historiography and Uses of the Past; Quaternary Studies; Revista Brasileira de Ciências Sociais; Revista Brasileira de História; Revista de História da Sociedade e da Cultura, U. of Coimbra; Revista História, Ciências, Saúde – Manguinhos; Revista Ibero-Americana de Educação; Revista Portuguesa de História, IHES; Springer; Varia História; Vista: Revista de Cultura Visual.

Scientific and professional associations: Member of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (elected RAI Fellow in 2019); American Anthropological Association (AAA); Society for the Anthropology of Europe (SAE); European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA); Associação Portuguesa de Antropologia (APA); Sociedade de Geografia de Lisboa (SGL); Société Internationale d’Ethnologie et Folklore (SIEF); Sociedade Portuguesa de Antropologia e Etnologia (SPAE); Women in Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies (WISPS); Associação Internacional de Ciências Sociais e Humanas em Língua Portuguesa (AICSHLP); Lusophone Studies Association (LSA); and Association for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies (ASPHS).

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