On October 4th, started the first session of the Seminar Cycle “Rethinking the Archives”, at the National Archives of Torre do Tombo. This inaugural session was organized by doctoral students Abel Rodrigues and Filipa Lopes, researchers from the Vinculum Project.

The central aim of this cycle of seminars is to place archives, understood as social constructions, at the epicenter of academic discussions. The purpose is to analyse and characterize their origins, functions, structures, materialities and (re)uses throughout history, while at the same time assessing the current impact of the transition to the digital environment on the construction of Community Memory.

Each month, a renowned international researcher will address sub-themes previously selected by the cycle’s coordinators. The analysis and commentary of each session will be conducted by senior researchers from the Portuguese academic community, who are also internationally renowned.

The first session of this cycle featured an impressive presentation by Professor Olivier Poncet, professor at the École National des Chartes and a specialist in archives, who focused on the theme of archives as an instrument of power, under the title “Les Archives comme outils du pouvoir”. The presentation was reviewed by Professor Pedro Cardim, a specialist in Modern History at Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas da Universidade Nova de Lisboa.

Watch the full session video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqM3Pa3XN8g