British Academy/Leverhulme grant for history staff
Dr Jacob Blanc has been awarded a British Academy/Leverhulme grant.
Lecturer in Latin American history, Dr Jacob Blanc has been awarded a British Academy/Leverhulme small grant for his project on ‘The bureaucracy of memory: Oral history and human rights in Brazil.’
The grant will allow Jake to build an archive of oral history testimonies from human rights activists in Brazil that will be housed at the Scottish Oral History Centre at the University of Strathclyde, and also at the State University of Western Paraná in Brazil. Funds will also pay for the translation into Portuguese of a biography he is writing on Aluízio Palmar, a former political prisoner who became a leading journalist and human rights activist.
Dr Blanc said, “For the generation of Brazilians that came of age in the 1960s, during the Cold War in Latin America, now is a really important time to collect oral histories. A lot of this generation has already passed away, and it's really important to maintain a living archive of their memories of struggle and resistance for human rights and democracy. I'm thankful to partner with the Scottish Oral History Centre and the State University of Western Paraná to build and disseminate this oral history archive. The audio files will also be complemented by full transcriptions, which will allow students and researchers across the world to consult the full archive."
The School sends its warmest congratulations to Dr Blanc on his grant.