Social fabric and power networks: a prosopographic study on the Portuguese Maghreb (15th-19th centuries)

15.12.1999

Project status

concluded

REF

P/HAR/13093/1998

Main research unit

Centre for History of the University of Lisbon

Principal Investigator

António Dias Farinha (ULisboa)

Research team

Francisco Contente Domingues (ULisboa); João Cosme (ULisboa); José Varandas (ULisboa); Bernardo Sá-Nogueira (ULisboa); Vasco Resende (ULisboa); Joana Neto (ULisboa); Rui Cores Graça (ULisboa); Jorge Afonso (ULisboa); Abel Cruz (ULisboa)

This research project on the study of social formation and changes resulting from the delocalisation of population from the Portuguese territory to the Moroccan space, aims to: 1) the concrete establishment of a second-degree archive regarding the Portuguese presence in the Maghreb between the 15th and 19th centuries, using a detailed characterisation of its actors, lending it usable in future research about this geography; 2) the elaboration of relational tables – prosopography – that demonstrate the creation of social networks in its various shapes; 3) a first approach beginning with a prosopographic collection exploring the mechanism of social reproduction, taking into account political, economic, religious, and cultural contexts, including either movements of mutual acculturation or contamination through different social schemes; 4) open the possibility to relate prosopographical analysis and that of individual characters (individuals and/or families), promoting a broader amplitude to scientific biographical work; 5) engage on interdisciplinary analysis, underlining sociometric and sociological methodologies applied to historical science; 6) make intelligible the hypothetical social border lines between the metropolis and the Maghreb; 7) understand the type of social mutation that concern the occupation, establishment and departure from Moroccan settlements, and the new strategies of relationship with the centres of power in the Maghreb; 8) found a research group on Moroccan topics, through the use of some dissertation topics within the scope of this project, that could be the basis for future research.