Laura de Mello e Souza, a historian from São Paulo known for her influential work on colonial Brazil, was awarded the International Prize for History by the International Committee of Historical Sciences (CISH). She is the first woman and the first South American to receive the award, which is based on the quality of a person’s research, their contribution to the progress of historical research, and their work in teaching and training. From 2014 to 2022, Mello e Souza was professor of Brazilian history at Sorbonne University, Paris. Her career was fundamentally established at the School of Philosophy, Languages and Literature, and Human Sciences of the University of São Paulo (FFLCH-USP), where she earned her degree and taught from 1983 to 2014. She is the author of such titles as Desclassificados do ouro: A pobreza mineira no século XVIII (Disqualified from gold: poverty in Minas Gerais in the eighteenth century; Editora Graal, 1983), The Devil and the Land of the Holy Cross (University of Texas Press, 2003), O sol e a sombra (The sun and the shadow; Companhia das Letras, 2006), and O jardim das hespérides – Minas e as visões do mundo natural no século XVIII (The Garden of the Hesperides – Minas and views of the natural world in the eighteenth century; Companhia das Letras, 2023). Her books have been translated into French, English, and Spanish. Established in 2015 and now in its fourth edition, the award will be presented in Japan in October.
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